You're Making It Come Alive
by Red Car Wire
Summary: George Weasley has always led a charismatic life; a life of mischief, pranks, and mayhem galore. But when he meets Arianna McKinnon, a girl who shouldn't even be alive, his life suddenly becomes a lot more interesting. George Weasley x OC.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **I do not own any of the characters in this story. All the Harry Potter Characters are copyright to their respective owners. The only things that I own are the characters I make up. I write this for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of the readers. I do not write this story for any profit and I do not plan to in the future.

**Description: **George Weasley has always led a charismatic life; a life of mischief, pranks, and mayhem galore. But when he meets Arianna McKinnon, a girl who shouldn't even be alive, his life suddenly becomes a lot more interesting. George Weasley x OC.

oOo

_You're Making It Come Alive  
_By: Red Car Wire

Prologue

oOo

Marlene McKinnon was far from what would define a person as ordinary. She was top of her class, witty as anything there was, and an exceptional duelist. She never thought of herself highly though. Her fiancé, Sirius Black, was the one who always reminded her of how brilliant she was exactly. In Marlene's mind, she was a quiet little know it all with a foul temper who usually holds a grudge. She was protective of those she loved and cared for them in a motherly nurturing way. She care more for Sirius and their daughter Arianna more than anything. She had Arianna on a warm evening in May 1978. Both she and Sirius were surprised to know that she was pregnant with their first child after only a year of being engaged. Marlene was the one who decided to put the wedding on hold and raise Arianna before they got married. Sirius agreed, but wanted nothing more than to call Marlene his wife.

It was a warm spring day as Marlene and Sirius took Arianna to the Burrow to visit Molly and Arthur. As they approached the gate to the Burrow, Marlene noticed two red haired twins running towards the three of them. "Marley," they cried with excitement as they each hugged one of her legs.

Sirius laughed and looked over towards Marlene. "Marley? I think I should start calling you that."

"They're three Sirius, they can't pronounce Marlene."

"Marlene! Marlene!" A little Percy Weasley screeched as he ran towards her. "Can you please tell Fred and George to stop putting spiders on me," he begged with a pout.

"We weren't!" They protested and stuck their tongues out at him.

"Now boys behave," she told them as she set Arianna down next to Fred. "I'm counting on you to make these two behave themselves okay."

"Okay mummy," Arianna said as Marlene gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"Definitely your mother's daughter." Sirius laughed as he ruffled her brown curls hair.

They watched as their Arianna ran off with the Weasley twins laughing and talking a mile per minute. Marlene laughed and turned her head towards the entrance to the Burrow. A very pregnant Molly Weasley stood holding her latest child, Ron, in her arms. "Marlene, Sirius how are you? Please come inside."

"Here Molly let me hold Ron for you. A woman in your condition really should not be standing. Is Arthur still at work," she asked as she cradled the young boy.

"Yes, I'm afraid he won't be home until later tonight." She eased herself into a chair at the kitchen table and turned to Bill and Charlie. "Go outside and keep an eye on Fred and George. I have to talk with Marlene and Sirius about a few things.

The boys nodded and went to go look after their younger siblings. Molly waited until the door was shut and that she was positive that they boys were out of earshot. "Now what is it you wanted to talk to me about? Your letter sounded urgent," she asked motioning for the two to sit down.

Marlene was the first to take a seat. "The thing is Molly. It seems that this war is going to be lasting a lot longer than any of us could hope for. I just wanted to discuss with you what will happen to Arianna if something happens to Sirius or me." She noticed Sirius's jaw clench and his body freeze. She paced her hand over his. "There is a chance that we might not live through-"

"Marlene please don't talk that way," Molly asked looking past her friend and towards the children playing outside.

"I don't want to Molly, but I have to. My mother died just last month. We're not sure just how long that I'll be here or Sirius." Tears began to form in her eyes and Sirius gave her hand a squeeze. "The point is. If anything happens to me, Sirius, or anyone else in my family, promise that you'll take care of Arianna for us. I know it's a lot to ask, but-"

"Say no more," Molly interrupted. "I would be proud to raise Arianna, but both you and Sirius are strong. We can make it through this war. There is no need for you to worry."

"But still Molly, next to Lily and James, we want you and Arthur to raise Arianna if anything happens to us," Sirius repeated Marlene's words.

After a long period Molly finally nodded. "Arianna is a lucky little girl. She has two parents who completely and utterly adore her. Who care more for her well being than their own."

"I suppose that's what every parent is like. You're the biggest representative for it," Marlene said as she tickled Ron's stomach.

The little boy cooed with happiness and Marlene giggled at him. "Sometimes loved ones are all you need during times like these," she muttered to the child.

oOo

It was the day after Arianna's third birthday. Marlene's brothers Russell, Benjamin, and Sterling along with her father had all decided to stay an extra day to help Marlene around the house. Sirius was out with James and Lily, discussing what he referred to as simple chatter. Marlene usually saw past her fiancé's little white lies and Sirius saw past hers as well. Though in fair turn, Marlene's weren't exactly that good to begin with.

It was around nine that Marlene had decided to put her daughter to sleep. Her father, Maurice, decided to come with her to tuck his granddaughter into bed. As Marlene placed Arianna in her bed, the little girl reached out for a tattered old book filled with muggle fairy tales. Marlene happily took it and opened it up. "Which one do you want read to you," she asked her daughter with a warm smile.

"Sleeping Beauty," Arianna asked sitting up so she could clearly see the pages of the colorful book.

Maurice moved so that he was sitting next to Arianna. "Alright than. Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived a king and queen. They were both very excited because the queen was expecting her first child. When the baby was born, they were both pleased that it was a baby girl. They held a huge celebration for the whole kingdom in honor of their new daughter, inviting everyone except for the evil witch who lived in a dark and lonely castle."

Arianna, who already had the story memorized by heart, inched closer to her mom to see the non-moving illustration of a disgruntled witch with pale skin, long raven hair, and beady piercing eyes. She shivered and listened to her mother continue until a loud bang came from downstairs.

Marlene and Maurice both jumped up. They heard a series of spells being cast downstairs. The sound of a man's voice yelling, "Crucio" could be heard over it all though. Marlene quickly shut the door and placed Arianna in Maurice's arms. "What's going on mummy," the girl asked frightened more than anything.

There were flashes of blue, purple, and finally green on the outside of the door. Marlene was in tears as she kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Mummy loves you more than anything remember that. You'll be save, no matter what."

She looked up at her father, "Take care of her, just like we planned. Write to Sirius, tell him that you and Arianna are alright."

Maurice nodded and pulled his daughter towards him for a tight hug. He kissed her on the forehead. "You're a brave witch. You can fight them, just like your brothers are."

Cackling laughter could be heard from downstairs along with what sounded like a number of people running upstairs. Marlene quickly pulled out her wand and turned to her father. "Go," she instructed mustering up all the courage she had.

With that and a loud crack, Maurice and Arianna disappeared.

oOo

**Author's Note:** Okay so I figured I'd lay down the foundation of my story before I actually jumped into it. I was always fascinated by Marlene McKinnon and who she was. I also thought she and Sirius would be perfect for each other. I do not plan to write any Marlene/Sirius fanfics anytime soon. I'll post the first chapter sometime later today and I already started on the second chapter. They will get progressively longer as time goes by, I like my stories to build up over time and have humor as well. Always balance tragedy with comedy.


	2. Bets and Blue Eyes

_You're Making It Come Alive  
_By: Red Car Wire

Chapter One: Bets and Blue Eyes

oOo

It was another warm summer evening at the Burrow. The gnomes were all running around in the field out back and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were cleaning up after the dinner the Weasley family had shared. George Weasley sat with his twin, Fred, in their room going through papers for the joke shop they planned to open. "This product looks like a good one," Fred thought out loud as he examined the old parchment.

"Which one? Is it product 23-19, love potions for the Wonder Witch products?" Fred nodded and handed George the parchment.

"It looks pretty good. We just need to make it. We just need one ingredient and maybe repair our cauldron. We can't exactly brew Amortentina with a hole in a cauldron. Wanna head over to Diagon Alley to get the ingredients. I want to see how long you can stay out without mom noticing you're not here," Fred challenged with a smirk.

George returned the smirk and check the time on his watch. "It's only eight. I can go there and be back in thirty minutes without her noticing."

Fred laughed. "Okay, let's make this interesting, how about seven Sickles?"

George took his twin's hand and shook it. "You can bet on that," he swore as he hurried downstairs to the fire place.

He took a handful of Floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace. He looked around to make sure mum, Ron, or Ginny were not around. Thankfully, there seemed to be no one around at the time. George heaved a sigh of relief than turned back towards the flames. "Diagon Alley," he said as he stepped into the flames.

He quickly emerged into the Leaky Cauldron coughing up the ash that entered his lungs. George frowned as he wiped the soot from his clothes. He enjoyed the rush from traveling by Floo powder, but not what it was like when they came out of the fireplace. He quickly made his way into Diagon Alley. The streets were filled with wizards and witches pushing their way past each other and into the many shops around them. Children were staring at the latest broomsticks in Quality Quidditch Supplies, soon to be first years were getting their wand from Ollivander, and couples were enjoying an evening treat outside of Florean Fortescue's. George made his way around the corner to Slug and Jitters for the potion supplies. He walked into the shop to smell a waft of a horrible smell that was a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage. A toothless old wizard stood at the counter and leered at him. "What is it that you need?" He asked with his eyes narrowed.

"I can find everything," he told the man with a grin.

George managed to get hold of some ashwinder eggs and also a few doxy eggs for the skiving snack boxes. The man eyed George suspiciously as he mentally calculated the amount. "That'll be six Sickles and a Knut," he muttered as he placed the items in a small bag.

George handed him the money and hurried out of the shop. He looked down at his watch to see that he had at least twenty minutes left. A smirk appeared on his face and he decided to head over to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. He thought of the plans for the joke shop and the Slytherins he could test the products on. What these new products would do to Malfoy and his goons would be rather amusing. The thought of slipping him some love potion so that he dotes on a 1st year Hufflepuff was more than hilarious. He felt a grin begin to form on his face and then the wind quickly hit out of him.

oOo

Arianna McKinnon pushed her way through the crowd, doing her best not to run into anyone. "Where are you going sweet heart?" Two men called after her.

"Shit," she swore as she dived past an old couple and turned the corner. Arianna silently cursed herself for even speaking to those drunken idiots. She turned her head back to see how far away they were from her. All of the sudden, she ran into someone and fell back onto the ground. "Ugh," Arianna groaned rubbing her back.

"Are you okay?" A voice from the person she ran into asked.

"Nothing I can't handle. I was about to ask you the same. But considering you're not on the ground I'm assuming you're fine," she said as she looked up to see a muscular red head smiling down at her.

Arianna blew a lock of her brown hair out of her eyes and returned the smile. "You assumed right," he told her and offered her his hand.

"There she is!"

Arianna gratefully took his hand and looked back. She let out a groan of annoyance and turned back to the boy. "Care to help me get away," she begged with a look of pure desperation.

He laughed and pulled her around the corner and into the Leaky Cauldron. He placed a finger to her lips and told her to stay still. Arianna was surprised at how that he was actually helping her considering they just met. She watched as he walked towards the bar and the two men walk in. "Oy! Ginger! Did you see this curvy brunette run by?"

Curvy? Arianna shook her head at the silly way they choose to describe her. There were other words that were much better to describe her; curvy was the last on her list. The boy who helped her grinned. "Well, that describes a lot of people actually. Is there any general information about this girl?"

"She's not that tall, probably goes up to your shoulder, hair was curly, big blue eyes, and she was wearing muggle clothes."

"Sorry guys I haven't seen her, but I think she headed towards Flourish and Blotts."

It took a while for the men to reply. Arianna stood still, frozen in place. "Alright," one of the men finally said. "Thanks mate."

She turned her head around the corner to see them walk towards the bar. Arianna shook her head and chuckled quietly. The red headed boy walked over to where she was hiding and pulled her outside. "Better not let them see you. Why exactly were you running from them anyway?"

"Because two drunk blokes trying to take your top off at the end of your shift is not exactly enjoyable." She paused and grinned. "Well, not when they're middle aged. Persistent bastards too, if I only was allowed to use my wand outside of school I'd show them where to keep their hands," she stated fiercely as she tucked a curl behind her ear only to have it fall into her face again. "I'm Arianna by the way. Arianna McKinnon." She offered him her hand and gave him a wide smile.

"George Weasley." He laughed and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you George. Sorry about all that mess back there."

"It's no problem. I don't think I've seen you around here before. Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"I will in September, I just transferred there. I'll be a sixth year. What about you?"

"I'm a sixth year also. What school are you coming from?" He questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Beauxbatons," Arianna told him with a laugh. "How I lasted five years there I'll never know. Considering my best French is just phrases like, _'Qu'est-ce que c'est'_ or _'Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir'_. I'm actually surprised you didn't ask what house I was in at Hogwarts. Considering I do go there now."

"You're already sorted." George was surprised by this.

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, Dumbledore said he didn't want to cause a fuss at the feast by having a sixteen year old being sorted with the eleven year olds. I made Gryffindor if you were wondering."

His grin grew even wider from this newly learned information. "I'm a Gryffindor too; along with my brothers and my sister."

"Brothers, huh? They as cute as you?" Arianna teased with a flirtatious smirk.

She watched with pleasure as his face began to flush a slight pink and sat on a nearby bench waiting for his answer. "Well, I have a twin. As for future reference, I'm the better looking one," he told Arianna as he took a seat next to her.

She laughed and leaned back. "I'll be the one to decide that in September."

"There isn't much to decide. Fred just pales in comparison to me. It's sad really."

"A little arrogant aren't we?"

"I'm not being arrogant when I'm stating-"

"Arianna there you are," a voice interrupted.

They both turned their heads in the direction of the voice. "McLaggen," George said in unison with Arianna, both equally surprised.

Cormac looked a mixture of anger and surprise. Normally Arianna would find this amusing, but since he was holding her trunk and her owl Adele she had the feeling that her aunt played a part in this as well. She glared up at her cousin and folded her arms. "What are you doing here and with my belongings?"

"Mum sent me looking for you since you didn't come home after your shift let off. She wanted me to remind you also that if you were going to stay at her house as a guest, you'd have to live by her rules. What happened to you anyway? Was Weasley flirting with you and you getting roped in? You need to learn self control Arianna," he snapped maliciously.

Arianna glared at him and stood up angrily. She could see George was about to get up as well and she held her hand out in front of him to signal for him to stay out of this. "For your information, George helped me get away from two wretched men who had intentions that even your little brain could understand. The only reason I'm even staying at your house is because Dumbledore thought it would be best. I would much rather stay at the Leaky Cauldron. So would you please hand me my trunk and Adele."

"I really don't think your granddad would like you staying in a tavern and not the house of a family that he knows."

"He could care less. He knows that I'm not stupid enough to let anything bad happen to me. So would you please hand me my trunk and leave. Isn't that why you have it in the first place? To get rid of me for the rest of the summer?"

A triumphant smirk formed on her face as Cormac placed the trunk on the ground, handed her the owl, and walked away. "Mum won't like this," he muttered as he made his way to the nearest store to travel back home.

Arianna looked down at her trunk and sighed. "I'm sorry about that," she told George.

"It's alright. I better get going, it's nearly nine and no one knows I'm here right now."

"How did you get here anyway? I can tell you're not seventeen yet."

"Floo powder."

"Well aren't you a wild man Mr. Weasley."

"Mr. Weasley, is my father. I however, I'm George. And you, Ms. McKinnon, don't know the half of it." His dark blue eyes had a mischievous gleam in them.

"I'm sure I will in good time." With that she gave George a wicked grin and made her way towards the Leakey Cauldron to see if Tom had a room that was open for the night.

oOo

"What on Earth were you doing at Diagon Alley?" Mrs. Weasley shrieked at her son.

George sat at the kitchen table, Mrs. Weasley glaring at him as bright as a ripe tomato. He looked up at her and frowned. "I told you mum, I was getting some potion supplies for next-"

"Do you really expect me to believe that? Since when are you so interested in your studies? The three OWLs you got certainly don't show that you are."

"Well Molly, he did have ashwinder eggs and doxy eggs to prove that he bought potions ingredients," Arthur Weasley said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"How do you know it wasn't for that stupid joke shop idea?" She asked, turning her anger towards her husband.

He paused to plan his words carefully. "I don't," he finally admitted. "But I think we should take the eggs at least until September."

"But I paid for them with my own money," George protested.

"You're father's right and I think he is very fair. You snuck out to buy these, so we should at least hold them until September," Molly told him, her anger dying down some.

George watched as his mother went back to cleaning the dishes and putting them away. He turned his head to see Bill shaking his head at him. "It wouldn't have taken you long anyway, what exactly held you up?"

"I ran into this girl. She was in trouble and asked me for some help."

"What was her name?" Bill leaned forward grinning towards his younger brother.

"Arianna McKinnon."

A loud crash filled the kitchen and all three heads turned towards Mrs. Weasley. She stood wide eyed staring into space. Arthur rushed to her side and led her into a chair. Her skin turned ghostly pale and her warm brown eyes turned towards George. "That, that's impossible," she muttered to her son. "Marlene McKinnon and her entire family were killed. How could Arianna still be alive?"

Arthur was just as pale as his wife. Bill was also stricken with shock. "Are you positive George," Arthur questioned.

"I'm positive."

"What did she tell you," Molly asked.

"That she attended Beauxbatons for the last five years and is transferring to Hogwarts this year. Cormac McLaggen came looking for her and mentioned that her aunt and father would not like her staying at the Leaky Cauldron rather than at her aunt's home. She told him that her grandfather didn't-"

"She's staying in the Leaky Cauldron?" Molly interrupted.

"Yes, at least that's where she was headed."

"Bill, go to the Leaky Cauldron and ask Tom if Arianna rented a room there. If so, find her and bring her back here," Molly instructed sternly.

Bill nodded and apparated with a loud crack. Molly placed her head into her hands and Arthur rubbed her back gently. "George, I think it might be best if you go to bed," Arthur told him quietly.

"Why can't I stay here until Bill brings-"

"It's best if you go to bed. If Bill does find her, you can she her tomorrow."

George did his best to protest any more. He simply nodded and made his way to him and Fred's room. He opened the door to find his twin lying out on his bed with a goofy grin across his face. "It took you over an hour, which will be seven Sickles mate."

George threw the money towards Fred and sat down on his bed. "Why exactly were you so late," Fred asked as he counted out the silver coins.

He could feel a grin forming on his face as he looked over at his brother. "I ran into this girl, she was in trouble so I decided to help her."

"What was her name?"

"Arianna McKinnon. She's transferring from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts. She was sorted already too, she's a Gryffindor."

"They sorted her already?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore didn't want to attract too much attention."

"Too much attention? Is there even such a thing?" Fred laughed.

"Not to us, but to Dumbledore there is."

Fred nodded and returned to looking through the lists of products for the joke shop. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was what they ultimately decided to name the shop. George leaned back onto his bed and stared out the window. It was close to midnight by now, he began to wonder if Bill was able to find Arianna and if she was brought back here. His thoughts went back to when he was around three, playing out in the grass with Fred and a little curly haired girl. The face of a smiling woman who he assumed was her mother, a woman who looked just like Arianna. He sighed and rolled over to watch Fred look throw parchment. "Here." Fred shoved a few rolls into George's arms. "Make yourself useful and go through those for me."

George looked through them and sighed. "I think we're good. Plus we plan to try and gamble all our finances at the World Cup anyway."

Fred shrugged. "It's a healthy investment and with my expertise, we could probably win a bet or two."

"Maybe, we'll find out next week won't we?"

"That we will mate."

With that, Fred blew out the candle he had burning on the nightstand and crawled into his bed. George sighed and returned his gaze towards the window until he eventually drifted to sleep.

oOo

**Author's Note: **Okay so here's the first chapter. I figured that I'm going to spend the today, before I leave for my trip, working on the second chapter some and hopefully seeing some reviews. Actually I'm hoping more that when I come back from the beach I'll have a good amount of reviews from you all. I have a lot of great plans for this story.


	3. Revelations

_You're Making It Come Alive  
_By: Red Car Wire

Chapter Two: Revelations

Arianna woke with a jolt. Little beads of sweat were forming along her forehead and her skin felt cool and clammy. She looked around the room for the nearest clock to check the time. It was nearly midnight. She sighed and tried to calm her breathing, placing her hand on her rising and falling chest. It was an unusual dream she had, a repetitive dream, but none the less unusual. Arianna tried to recall every last bit of the dream. The brown haired woman placing a young girl into the arms of an elderly man, the flashes of green coming from outside the door, screams of pain mixed with cackles of laughter, various spells being shouted, and the large crack and jolt that usually led her to awake.

Groggily, she made her way into the washroom and splashed her face with water located in a small basin. Her gaze slowly moved from the clear water in the basin to the mirror before her. Her face was red in some places. Had she been crying? Arianna placed a hand on her cheek and sighed. After all, it was only a dream. Dreams tend to never come true, at least that's what she had always heard. She made her way back to the bed replaying the dream in her head again. The cackles of laughter she heard had sent chills down her spine, chills that have yet to leave. Arianna ran her fingers through the mess that was her hair and shook her head. She concluded, for her own sanity, that it was only a dream. As soon as she got back towards her bed she noticed a man sitting on it.

"Are you Arianna McKinnon," he asked.

It took Arianna a while to answer. She was curious and yet surprisingly frightened of the figure on that was sitting on her bed. "Who are you?" She finally managed to get out.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me. Lumos."

The small room filled with light and Arianna was left standing before a tall, thin, rather handsome man with long red hair pulled back in a ponytail and an earring with a fang dangling from it. He wore boots made from dragon hide and had a faded shirt that had the band name The Hinky Punks scrawled across the front. "Bill Weasley. I know it's rude to come in here like this, but it is important that you come with me."

"What for," she asked in a state of confusion trying to recollect the event that was happening.

"Do you remember anything from when you were little?"

"Not much. I remember staying with my grandfather for the longest-"

"Your mother," interrupted Bill once more. "Do you remember her at all?"

"Only what my granddad told me about her. That she died in an honorable battle or something along those lines."

Arianna looked at Bill. He seemed to look more worried and confused by the minute. What was he doing here? Why was he even asking her questions about her mother? Arianna sighed and leaned against the wardrobe. "I'm sorry I'm not being all that helpful."

"I'm guessing he never told you the full story."

She froze and looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and anger. "What exactly gives you the right to come in here and start asking me questions of my past? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I thought we were past introductions," said Bill with a sly smile.

Arianna let out a groan of frustration and plopped down onto the floor, glaring at Bill. "I'm sorry about all this, but if you please come with me, I could answer any questions you have."

"Why do I have to come with you?"

"Long story short, my mum made a deal with your mum saying that if anything happened to her she'd take care of you."

She sighed and looked up at him. "Why should I come?"

To Arianna's surprise, Bill laughed. "Still as stubborn as when you were little."

"Still doesn't answer my question." She folded her arms.

"Like I said, any questions you want to ask will be answered. Are you coming or not?"

Her thoughts turned to the questions that her grandfather had never answered. She began to think of who her father was. Surely Mrs. Weasley would have some sort of information. Arianna stood and pulled a jacket over her nightdress. "That's the spirit," said Bill as he took her trunk and handed Adele to Arianna.

"How are we getting there anyway?"

"Floo powder. I'm not risking a side along apparition. Besides, it's just as quick." He turned to the fireplace and pointed his wand towards it. "Incendio."

The fireplace was filled with brilliant orange flames that brightened up the entire room. Bill took out a small jar of the silvery powder and tossed some into the fireplace. The orange flames turned into a dazzling emerald green. "Just say 'the Burrow'," he told Arianna as he motioned for her to walk forward.

Arianna walked forward into the flames, holding Adele close. "The Burrow," she managed to say through the soot that was blowing around.

With that, she was sucked forward and before she knew it she was sitting in the center of a cozy living room. There was a grandfather clock on the opposite wall. The clock hands had been replaced with photos of the Weasley family and the numbers were replaced with locations such as 'home', 'school', 'work', and even 'mortal peril'. Bill's picture moved from 'lost' to 'traveling' and in a few short seconds he appeared right behind her with a faint pop.

Bill placed her trunk on the floor and walked into the next room, which she assumed, was the kitchen. There were a series of voices speaking. Arianna took a seat on the nearest couch and continued to gaze around the small room. A woman emerged from the door and walked towards Arianna. She was short, plump, with a kind face and hair as fiery as George and Bill. Arianna, had to assume that this was Mrs. Weasley. A tall man who also had red hair, though it was balding some, fallowed suit right behind her. "Hello Arianna," the woman said sitting down next to Arianna. "I'm not quite sure if you remember me considering it's been thirteen years since I've last seen you. I'm Molly Weasley and over there is my husband Arthur." She paused and looked her over. "My goodness you look so much like your mother."

Arianna didn't exactly know how to respond to this. Her grandfather always said she was growing up to look just like her mother and how proud he was of that. No one else had ever given her the same compliment to her, it was strange. Her gaze shifted downward and she muttered a shy thank you. "None at all dear," said Mrs. Weasley kindly. "Now, I suppose you're wondering why you are here."

"Bill told me the main reasons for why he was taking me here. He also said that you would answer any questions of mine," she replied, her gaze moving towards Mrs. Weasley.

Molly looked a little startled at this. "Well there isn't much that I know to answer any questions you may have, but it is late. I'm sorry that we don't have a bed open for you tonight; do you mind sleeping here just for tonight?"

"No not at all."

"Good." Molly gave her a warm smile as she conjured up a blanket and two lush pillows. "We'll answer any questions you have in the morning. I'm sure you have quite a few."

"I do. Can I ask just one, for now at least?"

Molly hesitated for a moment and looked over towards Arthur. He nodded. "I don't see why not," he told both girls.

"I was just wondering who my father is."

"You mean that you're grandfather never told you," Arthur asked surprised.

"No and I was hoping either of you would know."

Molly gave Arthur a look that almost said that she knew that Arianna would ask this. He looked from his wife, to the teenager staring up at both of them longing for an answer. "We'll have to answer that in the morning," he finally said.

"But you said-"

"That is a question that needs a lot more than a simple answer," interrupted Molly. "It's best that you get to bed. We'll answer your questions tomorrow."

"Actually Molly, you'll be the one answering the questions. Ron, Fred, George, and I are going to go pick up Harry."

Molly nodded, too tired to argue, and made her way up to her bedroom with her husband following behind her. Goodnight was the last word they said to her.

Arianna pulled the blanket over her and her thoughts began to race again. George, she was going to kill him for getting her here in the first place. If he had just kept his mouth shut about them meting none of this would have happened. She groaned and rolled onto her side. Why did Mrs. Weasley find that the question about her father needed to be answered in the morning? It was simple, just give her a first and last name and she would have known. Were all of the Weasleys' as complex as their parents? Her frown turned into a small smile. "If so," she whispered quietly. "It will sure be fun.

oOo

The sun was coming up along the horizon when Arianna's eyes fluttered open. She could hear the faint noise in the kitchen of someone cleaning and preparing breakfast. There were clangs of pots and pans as well as a bush scrubbing against a pan. It was an oddly comforting sound. Arianna pulled the blanket closer to her and sighed. Just then, Mrs. Weasley walked through the kitchen door wiping her hands on her apron. "Good morning dear. Did you sleep well," she asked smiling at her.

Arianna nodded. "Very well," she yawned as she sat up on the couch. "Where is the bathroom?"

"Oh right, it's on the second floor right next to the first door on the right. Better take your toiletries with you to leave there. Just make sure Fred and George don't get a hold of them, they might jinx them for their own amusement."

Arianna thanked her and made her way up the stairs, mentally thanking herself for thinking of a way to explore the house without Mrs. Weasley tagging along. She walked along the narrow creaky staircase to see several doors. She thought of opening them to see what was behind them, but quickly rethought. Instead, she made her way to the restroom quickly and placed her small bag of items on a shelf across from the sink. Arianna made her way back down to the kitchen to see Mr. Weasley sitting at the table, flipping through the morning issue of the Prophet, and chatting with Bill about some event.

"Of course they improved the rules. Too many people have died in the past over what happened."

"Is the prize money still a thousand galleons? Wish I was still in school, I'd gladly enter the Tournament-"

"Good morning Arianna," Mr. Weasley said rather loudly just realizing she was there.

"Tournament? What Tournament?" She asked as she took a seat opposite Bill.

"You'll find out about it in September," said Molly rather briskly. "I better go wake up the others and than announce the sleeping arrangements. When is Charlie getting here?"

"Sometime before lunch," Bill answered as he applied margarine to his toast.

"Good, good. That's when you're going to get Harry right?" She asked her husband.

Mr. Weasley nodded and took a sip of his tea. Mrs. Weasley nodded as well and turned on her heel to go wake the others. One by one four red headed children and one brunette, who was obviously a friend of the family, made their way into the kitchen sleepily. George caught sight of Arianna and gave her a grin and then turned to his twin. A short redheaded girl and the brunette girl exchanged looks of confusion. Arianna felt her face turn slightly pink and her gaze shifted down towards her mug of freshly brewed tea. Normally, she enjoys attention from people, but considering she was in the house of people who didn't know her she didn't enjoy it as much.

"Alright everyone," said Mrs. Weasley as she made her way into the kitchen holding a small piece of parchment. "I have the sleeping arrangements for the next few months, but first, this is Arianna McKinnon she'll be staying here with us this summer."

Arianna looked up and gave a small wave and smile to the group. "Arianna, this is George, Fred, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron."

"Hello," all said except for Ron, who was dozing off and staring at the food laid out on the table.

Hermione elbowed him in the side and jerked up, startled. "Oh, hi," he mumbled.

They all filled the table and took turns filling their plates with various foods Mrs. Weasley had prepared for them all. On one side of Arianna sat George, the other side sat Hermione. Fred had opted to sit across from George. Ginny sat by Bill and Ron by Hermione. "Alright so Ginny, Hermione, and Arianna, you'll be sleeping in Ginny's room. Bill, you and Charlie will sleep in Fred and George's room. Ron, you, Fred, George, and Harry will all stay in your room," Mrs. Weasley read out.

"What about Percy," Fred asked.

"He has to work so he's not sharing a room," she told him as she went back to prepare more food.

"So, Arianna, where are you from?" asked Hermione attempting to start conversation.

"London, but I've lived in Northern France for as long as I can remember."

"Northern France? I visited Southern France last summer. Absolutely fascinating and gorgeous down there. Do you go to Beauxbatons?"

"Used to, I'm going to Hogwarts in September."

"Beauxbatons?" asked Ginny confused.

"French wizarding school," she answered. "Not the best and filled with a bunch of girls who are full of themselves. Especially those who are part Veela."

"Aren't you one of them?" George said with a sly grin.

Arianna snorted. "Obviously not. Eat more carrots George; there is something really wrong with your vision," she retorted, sliding a plate of vegetables towards him. " There were a few good things about Beauxbatons though."

"Like what?" asked Ginny.

"It was right on the Mediterranean so we'd go out swimming every once and a while. Of course we'd get a few detentions for it, but it was worth it."

Hermione frowned at this. She seemed displeased that Arianna was one not to shy away from breaking the rules. "Wut 'ose are joo in," Ron asked through a mouthful of eggs.

"Ronald, how many times have I told you not to speak with your mouthful," Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"I think he said, 'What house are you in?' You can never tell with Ron, he's always eating and talking. Nasty habit, horrible to display around his younger sister," Ginny stated in mock offense.

Arianna chuckled. "Gryffindor," she told them. "Dumbledore had me sorted a few weeks ago."

Mrs. Weasley looked up from her cooking. "You've met with Dumbledore already?"

Arianna nodded and took a bite of toast as several looks of confusion rose on their faces as they looked over at Mrs. Weasley. "Already? What do you mean by that mum?" Fred asked.

"None mind you. Go get dressed, you'll be picking up Harry in a few hours."

The lot of them all stood up; pushed their chairs in, and grabbed a few pieces of toast with them upstairs (Ron took a few slices of bacon as well). George turned to her and gave her a sheepish grin. "So did you get here safely," he whispered to her.

"Yes, but how exactly did the subject of me come up? That's how I got here in the first place, it's pretty much your fault," she deducted with a yawn.

"Bill asked what took me so long. I said that you did." His grin broadened. "You don't mind it here do you?"

Truth be told, she was starting to enjoy her little stay at the Burrow. The Weasleys were interesting folk and they were starting to grown on her. Maybe Arianna would even rethink killing George for getting her into this situation. A grin formed on her face as well. "No I don't," she stated truthfully.

"Arianna will you please stay here for a moment," Mrs. Weasley called after her as she began to walk upstairs.

"Yes Mrs. Weasley," she answered curiously.

"I said that I'd answer any questions you had in the morning, and I am a woman of my word. You asked about your father, correct?"

Arianna nodded eagerly. "Well, I don't know how to put this, have you heard of Sirius Black?"

"The man who murdered innocent muggles along with Peter Pettigrew? Yes, did he have anything to do with my father?" She inquired with great distaste.

"Well dear," started Mrs. Weasley as she fumbled with her hands a bit. "He was your father."

Arianna felt a great mixture of shock and relief run through her body. She was shocked to find that a notorious murderer was her father, but also relieved to at least know who he was. Her grandfather refused to talk about him at all to her. "Did you know him at all," she asked breathlessly.

"Not all that well, but I did know your mother and he never once left her side. He sort of went a bit mad after your mother and her, well your, family was murdered. I'm sure he assumed that you died as well. He loved you and your mother dearly, they never married though. Decided to wait until after the war. Thought it would be best for you. He didn't want anything to do with anyone. I don't really know what happened to him than. I'm sure you've heard the rest."

Arianna nodded, thinking over Mrs. Weasleys words. Concern flooded her face and she gave Arianna a warm hug. "I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you dear. I would have expected Dumbledore to let you know considering you met with him a few weeks ago."

"It's alright. It's just good to know who my father is, despite the fact he..." her voice trailed off and she gave a warm smile to Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you for telling me," she said.

"No problem at all, dear. Right, well, you better go get dressed as well. Take your things up to Ginny's room. It's on the first floor on the left."

Arianna nodded and made her way to Ginny's bedroom. It was small, but it managed to hold a wardrobe, bed, a cot that Hermione had been using, and a squishy purple sleeping bag rolled up in the corner. There were colorful posters of Quidditch teams, Holyhead Harpies especially, and a few posters here and there of the Weird Sisters. "It's a bit crowded. You don't mind do you," asked Ginny.

"No, not at all."

"Good. You're a Quidditch fan right? Dad got ticket to the World Cup. Maybe he could get one extra for you."

Arianna's eyes widened and she grinned at the idea. "I love Quidditch, I played some for Beauxbatons. That sounds like a plan."

"Well we could also just distract Percy enough so he can't go to the Cup and is forced to work more on his reports for cauldron bottoms," thought Ginny with a wicked grin.

"Can I help with this plan," said Fred from the doorway with a grin to match Ginny's.

"What Quidditch position did you play," he asked Arianna as he and George walked into Ginny's room.

Hermione muttered something about having to talk to Ron and hurried upstairs. "Beater. Why do you play?"

"You don't look like you'd be a Beater," George stated looking her over. "Fred and I play Beater also."

"Small world isn't it." She smirked and turned to Ginny. "Do you play?"

Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but Fred did for her. "Nah she doesn't. She's just a fan."

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. "We better go downstairs. You two and Ron are going to pick up Harry in a few minutes."

She spotted the look of confusion on Arianna's face. "Harry Potter," she told her.

"Oh," she said stupidly and watched as the Weasley siblings all made their way back to the living room only to follow suit a few moments afterwards.

oOo

After a few days of staying at the Burrow, Arianna felt more at home than anything. She had gotten off on a bad foot with Percy at breakfast when he overheard her comment she said to Hermione about how cauldron bottoms are certainly useless and the Ministry has more important matters. Harry and Ron seemed to look like something was troubling them when she was ever around. She asked Hermione about it once and she quickly found a way to change the subject.

However, Arianna didn't let it bother her. She spent most of her time with Ginny or Fred and George. They would test their newest joke shop items now and then on Arianna, calling it just business. George thought he'd let her know it was all Fred's idea for the pranks. She never bought it though. She quickly learned to think twice before accepting anything from either of the twins.

Arthur had managed to get a hold of another ticket to the World Cup for Arianna. They all woke bright, well more dully then bright, and early on Monday morning to go to the Cup. After breakfast and Mrs. Weasley snatching every single last Ton-Tongue Toffee they had managed to hide, they made their way to the top of Stoatshead Hill. Mr. Weasley looked around and smiled at the lot of them. "Now we just need the Portkey," said Mr. Weasley, replacing his glasses and squinting at the ground. "It won't be big…Come on…"

They spread out searching for it. After a few minutes they heard a voice call out. "Over hear Arthur, we've got it!"

They all glanced over to see two tall figures silhouetted against the starry night sky. "Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, smiling as he strode over to a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, who was holding a moldy-looking old boot. The rest of them trailed behind.

"Everyone this is Amos Diggory. I think you all know his son Cedric? Well of course you don't Arianna," he said thoughtfully.

Arianna looked over at Cedric who what she considered to be extremely handsome. He gave them all a smile and a hello which all returned except for Fred and George, who merely nodded.

They stood listening to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory make small talk before he recognized who Harry was. He squabbled on about how Cedric will always be able to tell his children that he beat the famous Harry Potter in Quidditch last year. "He fell off his broomstick," George informed Arianna. "Ruddy dementors came and Harry fell off the broomstick. That git over there doesn't seem to know that, or want to see that."

She chuckled. "Dementors? What were they doing at Hogwarts?"

"Protecting the castle from Sirius Black. Didn't work he still got in and managed to escape at the last minute. Are you okay?"

Arianna froze at the mention of her father's name. She did not know about him breaking into Hogwarts. She couldn't help, but mentally curse herself for not reading the Prophet that often and made a mental note to subscribe. "I'm fine," she stated a little later than a normal response would take. "Just thinking…"

Her voice trailed off as Mr. Weasley motioned for them all to gather around the boot. They all stood in silence with one finger on the boot with Mr. Weasley staring at his watch. It happened almost immediately. Arianna felt her whole body jerk forward with speed that nothing else could possibly achieve. They were lost in a howl of wind and swirls of colors. She was as surprised as Harry and Hermione to find that her finger was staying attached to the boot, as if it were glued to it. Almost at once, they all hit the ground. Some landed more gracefully than others. Arianna was one who landed on top of Fred. "Thanks for the extra padding," she said with a laugh as she helped him up.

They made their way to the campsites where they were directed to their location by a muggle of the name of Mr. Roberts. At the very edge of the wood, at the top of the field, was an empty space marked on by a sign hammered into the ground that read _WEEZLY_. Arianna did her best to help putting up the two tents, but since she did not spend anytime camping in her life she greatly failed at any of her attempts. As soon as they were finished, they took a tour of each tent, first the boys and then the girls, and spilt up to gather water or firewood.

Fred went with Ginny to gather some as Arianna set off by herself only to be accompanied by George. "You're rooting for Ireland right?" He asked her as they made their way into the thicket of trees.

"Of course. My last name is McKinnon George, Irish name you know. Irish blood flows through these veins," she declared with a large sense of pride. "Well half Irish," she added thoughtfully.

"What was your dad?"

She bit her lip to refrain from telling him who her father was exactly. "I'm not sure," she answered honestly as she moved ahead of him.

"You never met your dad?" He chased after her picking up logs along the way.

"My granddad raised me since I was three. I might have before then, but I don't remember."

"Do you miss them?"

"Who?"

"Your parents?"

"There isn't much to miss when you don't remember who they were or what they were like," she uttered slowly as a frustrated frown began to form on her face. "I do miss them," she concluded looking over at George. "I just wish I knew what my mum was like."

George caught note that she didn't mention her dad. This confused him greatly. Why would she miss her mother, but not her father? He stopped from asking anymore questions of the sort, not wanting to upset her.

They continued to gather wood in an awkward silence until they returned back to camp. Arianna did her best to help Mr. Weasley light one of the matches to get the fire going. By the time she did, Harry, Ron, and Hermione and Bill, Charlie, and Percy all apparated in. Arianna filled two plates with sausages and eggs for her and Ginny and hurried off to the girls tent where Ginny, Fred, and George all sat at the table chatting about possible outcome for the match.

"We think that Ireland will win, but Krum will get the snitch," Fred informed both Ginny and Arianna.

"Plan to bet on it too," George added as he patted a pocket on his jeans. "Every knut we've ever earned is going into this."

"What if you're wrong though," asked Arianna thoughtfully. "Seems like an awful waste."

"That's one's opinion. Ah, looks like Bagman just apparated over," George observed.

"He better be taking bets. C'mon George."

The two girls watched as they twins walked over towards boyish faced Ludo Bagman. "They usually know what they're doing," Ginny told her. "I've overheard some things about Bagman from mum and dad though. I hope they're careful."

She frowned and then turned to Arianna. "I think they're going to sell merchandise soon. Better gear up on all the good stuff before the Irish take it all."

Arianna and Ginny set off to find where they were selling merchandise for the Irish. They finally came across a vendor. Arianna bought several rosettes and a little miniature figurine of Ireland's seeker, Lynch, Ginny bought a rosette as well. They spent a few minutes laughing over how odd the figurines were acting. A dozen Krum figurines glared up at them, smug and the little Lynch pointed and laughed. Ginny made a comment to Arianna on how she thought most of the Bulgarians thought of Krum as a God. "They probably have a few shrines now and there. He's really the only good thing to come out of there isn't he?" She joked as some Bulgarians walking by looked insulted at this.

By the time they paid the man, who had became very aggravated with the two of them; the others were there right behind them looking at merchandise themselves. After a while, a deep booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting the path to the field. "It's time!" Mr. Weasley announced who was just as much excitement as any of them. "C'mon, let's go!"

oOo

**Author's Note: **I'm really sorry for how long it took to get out. I tried my best to make is extra long. Believe me, I wanted to cut it in have and just post that chapter as is, but my mind (my hyped up on Diet Coke at 2:20 in the morning mind) wouldn't let me. Microsoft Word 2007 is greatly deceiving too. It's always off by about 200-300 words, so I get a nice little surprise when I paste everything into the Document Manager. July is always the busiest for me every summer, but it will slow down soon and I'll be able to work more on the story. I always end up writing it at two in the morning anyway. Oh and the next chapter will have more of George's point of view too (it will also be very interesting too…).  
Anyways, thank you all so much for the reviews. I love reviews; they make me happy to see that you guys are enjoying the story. Sorry it took me so long to reply to your reviews. Only now did I figure out how to reply to them. I think it's safe to say that I am a little slow. One last thing, I will update my profile to let you know when to expect the next chapter, if any of you are wondering. I hope you all had fun at the premiere! I wish I went at midnight. I'm going Friday though and I'll definitely make the most of it.


	4. An Undeniable Attraction

_You're Making It Come Alive  
_By: Red Car Wire

Chapter Three: An Undeniable Attraction

oOo

A sound of euphoria was erupted over the entire campgrounds. Music soared from the Irish side, flooding it with celebration for their team's victory. Cheering and hollering could be heard all around while the Bulgarian side was absolutely quiet. George celebrated his winning bet with Fred and Arianna as they sat around the campfire, enjoying their cocoa and the music playing off in the distance. "Thought you were having a heart attack when Lynch hurt himself Anna," George teased as he grinned towards the now blushing witch.

"He could have died George," she defended herself as color continued to flood her cheeks.

"Well yeah, can't exactly control a broomstick can he? Good thing the chasers for Ireland are fantastic or else we wouldn't have won our little bet. Eh Fred?" He grinned and patted the sack of coins that Bagman handed over to the twins moments after the match had ended.

"Right George," said Fred returning the grin with much enthusiasm.

"Dumb luck that's all you two have," she muttered as she flicked a little pebble into the fire.

"It may be dumb, but look at all the galleons we've earned. Now we can work more on developing those items for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, since mum was so kind to get rid of half the products we've worked on," said Fred.

"Honestly she expects us to work in the Ministry along with dad and Percy. Cauldron bottoms and being called Weatherby on a daily basis isn't the way I want to live my life," said George smugly.

"She does have good intentions," began Arianna defending Mrs. Weasley. Both George and Fred looked at her as though a third eye had appeared right between the two she already had. "Oh come off it. She's just worried about you two and because of the OWLs and all, she worried you may not be successful. She knows it's a hit or miss business."

They look George and Fred gave her had ceased to fade away. "So what you're saying is that you and our dear mum don't believe in us?" asked Fred in mock offense.

"Oh, shut it. You know full well that I find some of your products to be brilliant," she snapped.

George laughed. "He's only kidding Anna. We know full well you find us brilliant, handsome, and even magnificent."

Arianna gave a 'humph' and muttered something about them being gits, a soft smile on her face none the less. "She's not arguing George. Maybe she thinks you're right. I'm afraid you're wrong though, I'm the more handsome twin. You failed to recognize that," said Fred with a devilish grin.

"Ah my dear brother, it's all about personal preference when it comes to appearance," said George in a wise tone that didn't suit him at all.

"You're right," chirped Arianna. "For all you know I could find Cedric Diggory more attractive then the two of you."

The two of them looked at her appalled. A smirk of satisfaction appeared on her face. "You're out of your sodding mind if you think that git looks better than either of us," retorted Fred.

"Well, you'll never know unless you suddenly become very skilled at Legilimens know will you?"

"I think that means she doesn't," Fred whispered to his twin.

"I know it doesn't," George responded with a low chuckle.

The very thought of Arianna liking Diggory was absurd to him. Pretty boy Diggory was much too thick for her taste. He could see that clearly. "How do you know we're not skilled at Legilimens?" asked Fred, rekindling the argument.

Arianna turned to the two and blinked with a blank expression on her face. "I can't decide," she finally said after a period of silence.

"Decide what?" George asked amused at tormenting the witch.

"Which one of you is the evil twin," she answered with a grin.

Both their grins broadened and they looked to each other. "Personal preference," they told her in unison with a slight shrug.

George glanced over towards Arianna who was sitting on an old log, her little figurine of Lynch pacing on her knees. She giggled softly at it causing her dark blue eyes to sparkle, the light from the fire dancing in her eyes. Her brown hair looked like copper in the firelight, highlighting every curl. A green rosette still pinned in her hair that pulled back a lock that would always fall into her eyes. Her skin looked warm and soft as satin. George tried to pin down a decent word to describe the witch. Before deciding what that word would be, she looked up to meet his gaze and matched it with a curious one of her own. "What?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Nothing," he murmured turning to look over at Fred, who raised an eyebrow at him as well.

They sat in an awkward silence. Fred cast a glance at his twin and gave him a knowing grin. "Well, I'm going to turn in," Fred announced taking the sack and getting to his feet. "Dad will probably be out here in a little while, see you in the morning Anna. You too George."

George could definitely feel some tension in the air between the two of them. Maybe it was just his imagination. Yes, it must be that, he decided. Tension just didn't seem that normal to him and Arianna. The music sounded louder as a faster song began to play, filling the air with its rhythmic tones. Arianna tapped her foot in beat with the music and turned to George. "Do you want to dance?" She asked him, feeling more spontaneous than usual.

George looked at her surprised. "Sure," he said.

He took her hand and placed the other on her waist. The flames flickered as their feet moved in tune with the music. To onlookers, it must have seemed like they were doing some odd tribal dance around the fire. The thought of it made George laugh and he lifted Arianna to twirl her, which caused her eyes to widen and her to laugh as well. "You're not half bad! And here I thought you'd be tripping over me."

"I'm filled with surprises," he said as he twirled her once more.

"Really?" she asked.

After a while, the music eventually began to slow down and their dancing did as well. "Care to surprise me again?" proposed Arianna.

She moved her arms around his neck and George placed his around her waist. "I can't now because you'll expect it."

She laughed and tilted her head to the side. "I'll be sure to not expect anything for a while then."

"Not that to bright of a plan. What if I mention that to Fred? He'll gladly use it to surprise you even with a non-pleasant surprise at that."

"Yes, well I think we both know you won't mention that to Fred."

"What if I surprise you and do," he teased with a grin.

"Well than maybe I will expect a few things from you then Weasley."

"Smart choice McKinnon."

A curl of hair fell into Arianna's eye that the rosette hadn't managed to hold back. He reached up and brushed it out of her eye, letting his hand brush against her cheek as well. Her face almost warmed immediately and even when the fire had died down to a few bright embers, he could tell she was blushing. He suddenly thought of a word that described her right here. She was absolutely beautiful.

Perhaps it was instinct or perhaps the moment was just right. The music was dying down so that it could barley be heard over the entire campsite, the embers glowed softly, and the two of them were alone for the first time since they first met. They slowly inched their heads closer to another waiting for the warmth of the other's lips, the sweet embraced that each craved so much as of right now.

Of in the distance a series of loud bangs could be heard and loud jeering, roars of laughter, and drunken yells came their way. A crowd was forming, a large one at that. Spells were being cast left and right from the crowd. The two of them broke apart and pulled their wands at ready. "Maybe it's just the Irish celebrating," Arianna said, trying to convince herself more than him that was all that all this wasn't happening.

"I doubt that," George looked over to see people running into the woods by the faint firelight.

He looked past the people running to see a group of Death Eaters, wands pointed up marching their way. He fallowed the path of the wand to see a small family, he guessed that were muggle, were floating along in midair being contorted into several grotesque shapes. He caught sight of one of the muggles, it was Mr. Roberts. George turned to Arianna. "Go wake Ginny and Hermione then wait for us. If they get closer go into the woods," he ordered.

She nodded briskly and rushed into the girl's tent. George ran into the boys tent to find his father already dressed and going around to wake up the others. "Where were you?" he demanded filled with worry.

"Just outside the tents, talking with Arianna," he explained as he followed his father around the tents. "We saw the Death Eaters marching towards here and thought to let you know.

Arthur Weasley nodded as he rushed to wake up Harry and Ron. "Where is Arianna?" He asked peering around for her.

"The girl's tent getting Hermione and Ginny. She's waiting for the rest of us."

"Right. Harry, Ron, and Fred, you three go with George and the girls. Go into the woods and stick together. I'll come and get you once it has been sorted out. Bill, Charlie, Percy and I are to help the Ministry."

George rushed outside to find Arianna, Hermione, and Ginny all waiting for them and at the same time gazing up in disgust over the torturing of Mr. Roberts and his family. "C'mon," said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her towards the wood.

The rest followed suit behind them. Fred, George, and Arianna kept their wands at ready. They all looked back as soon as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was much larger than it had started out; they could see Ministry wizards trying to get through to the hooded wizards in the center. They were having great difficulty with this, it looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall.

The colored lanterns that had lit the path o the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voiced were reverberating around them in the cod night air. George felt himself being pushed to various sides and into things. He felt someone take his hand and pull him deeper into the woods. "Lumos," he said lighting his wand.

It was Arianna pulling him along. She also lit her wand and glanced back to see him. There were traces of fear etched upon her face. Neither of them spoke to each other, they just continued to run down a path, deeper and deeper into the woods. Fred and Ginny were nowhere to be seen. They eventually came into a patch of silvery light. When they looked through the clearing, George saw three tall and beautiful veela standing in a clearing. They were surrounded by a gaggle of wizards, all of whom were talking very loudly to impress the women. "I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures," he felt himself shout out.

Arianna turned to glare at him. "Honestly!" She remarked, half with annoyance and half with amusement.

They eventually stopped running when they came across another clearing to see Fred and Ginny sitting there and waiting for them. "Where were you two," Fred asked with a grin.

"Looking for you two," George told his twin knowing that he was thinking the exact opposite.

Arianna took a seat by Ginny and the two witches gazed towards the sky. It had become eerily quiet. George remained standing and Fred stood up as well. Their wands remained drawn as they looked around the forest. The sky began to get darker and cloudier as a cloud of greenish smoke filled the sky. Both Ginny and Arianna jumped up at once. A giant emerald skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a tongue could be seen from over the tops of the trees. The dark mark had filled the entire night sky.

Screams could be heard from every direction. George turned to the others who were gazing up in shock, mouths agape, and fear in their eyes. Arianna was shaking and fell to the ground. "Fred go with Ginny back to the campsite," he instructed his brother as he rushed to Arianna's side.

Ginny gave a worried look towards Arianna before Fred grabbed her hand once more and took off running back towards the campsite. "Anna," he said shaking her gently, trying to get her to look at him and not the dark mark. "Arianna, we need to move now."

Worry and panic mixed in his voice as the young witch lay on the ground trembling. He knew people reacted badly to the sight of the dark mark, but he had never heard of someone reacting the way Arianna was. It was almost as though an electric shock had run through her entire body. "Please say something," he begged her.

Arianna's head turned slowly to look at George. Her was skin as pale as bones and her eyes wider then humanly possible. Her lips trembled as she tried to form the words she wanted to say. "I remember everything," she whispered still shaking from head to toe.

George had no clue what everything meant and right now he didn't care. He lifted her shaking body into his arms and took off running back towards the campsite. She continued to mutter a few words here and there, but the main word that she muttered was remember. Her hand clutched onto his arm tightly. It hurt, for a girl having a mental breakdown she could have quite a strong grip, but the pain was the furthest thing on his mind. She was crying now, his shirt becoming wet with her tears. Loud gasps and sobs came from her every so often. Over time, her grip slowly loosened on him and her tears began to slow. "It's okay," he comforted her quietly. "Everything will be alright."

George slowed down caught sight of the tent and quickly went inside to see Fred and Ginny sitting at a table looking shaken. Bill, Charlie, and Percy were pacing around looking worried and very pale. Ginny was the first to notice Arianna's state and let out a loud gasp of shock. Bill hurried towards George and they both eased Arianna onto the first bed they could get to. "What happened?" asked Bill as he looked over her.

"She saw the dark mark and collapsed onto the ground. She said something about remembering everything," George recited refusing to look at Arianna any longer.

Bill's face grew white too and Arianna curled up into a ball. "George do you know what she meant by everything," he whispered so that only George could hear.

"No clue."

"I'm not sure either, but I'm pretty sure she meant her mother's death. Or at least what she witnessed beforehand."

"But that's impossible to remember. She was only three when it happened."

"I read somewhere that you cannot actually remember anything until you're three years old," Bill pointed out. "It's best to let her be until dad and the others get back."

George looked at his older brother, confused. "The others? Where are they?"

"We don't know," he muttered worried.

Bill made his way back to the main room and George began to follow behind him. "George," said Arianna in a slight panic.

He turned around to see her sitting up and staring at him. He was thankful to see that her eyes were back to their normal size, but were still wide. "Please don't go," she pleaded in a whisper.

Arianna's blue eyes were still filled with tears. For some reason, they looked almost sea green to George. Her face was red from the crying beforehand and she was still breathing heavily. He walked forward and sat next to her. Her gaze moved down towards the patterns on the bed spread, which she began to trace. "Thank you," she murmured almost so quietly he could barely hear her. "Mental breakdowns really don't suit me too well," she added and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

"Are you alright?"

She was taking her time to answer, thinking it over fully and completely. "Not yet," she finally answered. "I'm getting there though."

"What happened?"

George sat patiently as she once again thought of her answer. "Do you know how when some people see something or something happens to them, it triggers their memory?"

He nodded and waited for her to continue. "Well, that's sort of what happened. Everything from the night my mum died just came back…" her voice trailed off and her gaze met George's.

"I'm sorry," he said kindly placing his hand on hers.

Bill came back holding two cups of tea for the both of them. He gave Arianna a kind smile and George a nod. George watched as his brother left the small room. George took a sip of the bitter tea. He noticed that his hand was still placed on Arianna's and he carefully removed it. He looked up at the witch who was gazing wistfully into the cup of tea. "I remember him, my father that is, he was different from what people told me he was like," she said thoughtfully as she traced the rim of her cup with a finger.

"Your father?"

George watched as Arianna bit her lip in hesitation. She took a few sips of tea, thinking over whether or not she wanted to tell him. "Who was your father?" he asked, rephrasing his question in a low voice.

"Sirius Black," she answered in a voice so low he could barely hear her.

George blinked and looked at Arianna in shock. Sirius Black's wanted posters filled his mind as he looked at her. The waxy faced man from the poster looked nothing like his daughter's warm round face. The maniacal expression that was plastered onto his face, well he could see that look on Arianna, but not in her current state. "Are you sure?" asked George.

"Positive. Your mum told me after my first night at the Burrow."

"That must have been a nasty shock," he mumbled.

To George's surprise, Arianna laughed. "Yes, but it's a relief too. Just knowing who he is, despite what he did. It's…nice."

George nodded and looked up to see that they weren't the only two in the room at this point. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all standing in the doorway. Looks of surprise were masked on Harry and Ron's face. Hermione's face was slightly pink. She cleared her throat some and glanced towards Arianna. "Its better we get to bed," she told her.

Arianna nodded and gave a smile to George. "Thank you, again," she said giving him a warm hug.

"No problem," he murmured into her soft hair.

oOo

Mr. Weasley had woken all of them up after only a few hours of sleep. Arianna didn't really sleep much. The memory of her mother's death continued to play in her head over and over again. The witch would hand Arianna off to her father while Death Eaters were outside of the door and downstairs killing her relatives. The screams of pain mixed with the cackles of laughter were prominent in her ears, echoing every so often. Every time she closed her eyes, a closed door with flashes of green opposite of it would burn in her thoughts. Why? Why now did she have to remember such a wretched thing?

They all left early and took and old rubber tire back to Stoatshead Hill before the sun had even risen. They all seldom spoke since they were so exhausted, each one of them thinking longingly of their breakfast. As they rounded the corner and the Burrow came into view, a cry echoed along the lane.

"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!"

Mrs. Weasley, whom had evidently been waiting for them in the front yard, came running towards them, clad in bedroom worried – _so worried – _"

Her copy of the Prophet fell from her hands and onto the ground. Arianna peered down at it too see the headline: _SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP_, complete with a photograph of the dark mark. It took a while for Mrs. Weasley to calm down. She had seized the twins into a strong grasp, her sobs becoming louder and stronger by the minute.

They all eventually crammed themselves into the kitchen. Hermione made Mrs. Weasley a cup of very strong tea, into which Mr. Weasley insisted of pouring a shot of Ogdens Old Firewhiskey. Bill handed his father the newspaper too read while Percy looked over his shoulder. The rest of them ate their breakfast quietly as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley discussed the article, with Percy and Bill throwing in their opinions now and then.

Arianna muffled a yawn into her hand as she looked around the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was choking down her tea and whiskey as Mr. Weasley and Percy told them they had to go to the Ministry to sort things out. Arianna excused herself and made her way to Ginny's room, hoping for some sleep. When she got to the puffy purple sleeping bag, she found a sleek wine red dress lying on top of it. There was also a stack of books for potions, transfiguration, and The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 6 laying beside it. "Mum must have went shopping yesterday," Ginny said observing her pile of books and a lavender gown.

"Looks like she took some coins out from your account too," she added pointing to a small bag.

Arianna nodded and lifted up her gown. It had a sheen to it that could be seen by the early morning sun. Flouncy short sleeves made of shear material caught her eye alone with the neckline, which was a cut far lower than Arianna was comfortable with. "Apparently mum has better taste in colours for when she's shopping for people she's not related to," Ginny mumbled as she held up the slightly poufy lavender dress.

They looked over at Hermione's cot to see a periwinkle dress. "She definitely does," added Ginny as she tossed the dress onto her bed.

"What do we need these for anyway?" wondered Arianna as she held the dress against her, looking in the mirror to see how well it looked on her.

"Maybe for some formal thing. Dad has some dress robes for special occasions at work. Hermione probably knows."

"Yeah probably," agreed Arianna as she climbed into the sleeping bag, not bothering to change into her pajamas.

"You're going to bed?" asked Ginny in surprise.

Arianna gave her ginger haired friend a look of disbelief. "Of course I am! Why wouldn't I?"

"Fred, George, Bill, Ron, and Harry were all planning on playing a game of Quidditch over in the orchard. Since you said you used to play, I thought maybe you'd want to join in."

She thought about it for a few seconds. She did miss the feeling of riding on a broom. The adrenalin rush of hitting a bludger into an opposing player was something that she missed a lot, especially if she broke a bone or two of one of the gits at Beauxbatons. Arianna turned to Ginny and beamed at the witch. "You thought right."

She went to her trunk and pulled out her broomstick, a Nimbus 2000. It was a little worn and the handle had lost its sheen over the years, but it was Arianna's pride and joy. "Do you play Quidditch," she asked Ginny curiously.

Ginny gave her a mischievous grin. "I've been breaking into the broom closet since I was six. I take turns with their brooms. They never let me play though," she confessed.

Arianna grinned. "Well I'm not playing unless you are so come on."

Quidditch with the Weasleys was something Arianna thought was beyond interesting. The family was filled with brilliant players, Arianna was a tad disappointed since they refused to let Ginny play. They had a few restrictions so that muggles couldn't see them play and they couldn't use actual balls for the game. None the less, it felt great to be on broomstick again. "You got quite a feel for the game," remarked Bill once they all landed.

"Played it at Beauxbatons," she replied. "Only girl beater in the whole school. Can't say they weren't pleased to hear I was leaving."

"Why? You're bloody brilliant," piped in Ron.

"For them, Quidditch is a man's game. Gits all of them are. Out of their sodding minds to think that just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't hit like a man."

"You really can't," teased Fred with a grin.

Arianna laughed and returned the grin. "That's because we weren't playing with real bludgers," she pointed out.

"Like you would hurt either one of us," said George with a laugh.

Arianna cocked her head to the side, a wicked grin forming on her round face. "What if I decide to stop being such a lady around you then?"

"You, a lady? Why Anna you're just as much of a lady as Fred is."

Fred looked at his twin in mock offense, while Arianna looked at him actually offended. "Oh like you're such the gentlemen," she quipped, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"I am a gentlemen," said George dignity with a smirk.

"You, a gentleman?" scoffed Ginny as she looked at her brother in annoyance.

George frowned at his sister. Arianna chuckled and walked past him and into the house and up to Ginny's room. Hermione was sitting cross legged on her cot readingThe Standard Book of Spells: Grade Four. "Oh," she said looking up. "How was the game?"

"It was fun," Arianna her with a smile. "Ron and Bill were on my team. We lost though," she added with a yawn and stretch.

Hermione nodded absentmindedly as she turned another page of the spell book. Arianna rolled her eyes at the witch and began to dig through her trunk for some fresh clothes. She grabbed a towel that was sitting on the top of her trunk and rushed up to the bathroom. She was not used to bathing quickly, but considering the few bathrooms in the entire house was just opposite of Fred and George's bedroom, she couldn't help but feel rushed. Within a few minutes she was clean and dressed. Carefully, she crept out of the bathroom and into the empty hallway. A sigh of relief breathed through her lips. "I'm curious. Are mood swings common for you or just when you're around me?"

Arianna turned to see George standing at the bottom of the stairway looking her over as if he was x-raying her. A puzzled expression fixated on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Flirty one second and the next you're sending little challenges to me."

"Flirty? Since when was I flirting with you?" questioned Arianna.

George strode towards her and grinned at her. "Let's see… last night, by the fire."

She felt her face warm at the memory. She had forgotten entirely of their little encounter before those attacks. A soft smile began to form on her face as well. "Spur of the moment," she muttered as she tried to push past the redhead, who's grin was broadening by the second.

He moved to block her from going downstairs. She gave him an aggravated glare and tried to push past him once more. George grabbed her from around the waist and pushed her away from the staircase. "What is your problem?" she demanded.

"No problem at all," George said with his Cheshire cat grin. "I just want one little thing that we missed out on last night."

"And that would be?"

George walked towards the witch who was leaning against a nearby wall. "I think you know," he said tapping her gently on the lips.

Arianna rolled her eyes at him. "Sod off," she mumbled trying to push past him again.

"I'm not quite sure you really want that."

"Why do you say that?"

George didn't answer her. She knew just as much as he did that there was an undeniable attraction between them, a longing that each of them wanted. Whether she wanted to give into it was up to her, but George was already through with playing little games with the curly haired witch. However, in Arianna's mind she thought a little chase was more fun than just diving right in. And she was not about to give George what he wanted.

"What's going on here?"

They both turned their heads to see Percy glaring at the pair of them over his horn-rimmed glasses. George had Arianna cornered against the wall in a manner that was very compromising position. Never in her entire live would Arianna think that she would be happy to see Percy Weasley. "Nothing," she and George stated in unison as he moved away from her.

Percy continued to leer at them. "Right," he said dragging out the word as slow as possible, as though he didn't believe either of them.

While she still had the chance, Arianna pushed her way past George and Percy and broke into an almost sprint to Ginny's room, trying to get away from George as fast as possible. She nearly slammed the door shut as soon as she got to the room, causing Crookshanks to leap from Ginny's wardrobe and onto his owner. "What is going on," Hermione asked looking over Arianna's ruffled state.

Arianna looked towards Ginny who was looking at her with a bewildered expression printed over her freckled face. "Your brother is such a git," she said before climbing into the poufy purple sleeping bag, causing both Hermione and Ginny to exchange curious glances towards one another.

oOo

**Author's Note:** So this chapter is finally out! Took me long enough to type it, but I wanted it to be extra long with lots and lots of goodness in it. I really hope you guys like it and let me know you like it in your lovely reviews. I just hope you know that if you do an anonymous review, I can't reply to it and I love replying to your reviews. Expect chapter four in August. Like I said before, I always end up writing the chapters early in the morning while drinking some sort of soda or some other range of drinks. Bottoms up…

You may have noticed the rating on the story changed. Well, I thought it was best that it would stay as T for now. I'll change it back to M if I feel the story will progress to there. So, I saw Half Blood Prince (I hope you all did too!) and I loved it. Possibly my favorite of the movies yet


	5. Trains and Tournaments

_You're Making It Come Alive__  
_By: Red Car Wire

Chapter Four: Trains and Tournaments

oOo

There was an end of the holidays gloom in the air by the end of the month. Arianna woke lazily to hear heavy rain falling against the window. It was almost a sheet of water flowing down the glass as she tried to glance out of it from on the floor. Hermione and Ginny had already left for breakfast, taking their trunks and Crookshanks with them. Slowly, Arianna moved from the cushiony purple sleeping bag to change into cleaner clothes. By the time she came downstairs, everyone was halfway through their breakfast and Mr. Weasley and Percy had left for work. "It's about time you're awake. I was about to send Fred and George to wake you up too," said Mrs. Weasley as she hastily filled up a plate with sausage and eggs.

"Thanks for not," mumbled Arianna between bites of her breakfast.

"Don't talk while you're eating Anna, you're not Ickle Ronniekins you know," said Fred with his Cheshire cat grin.

Arianna was about to make a hand gesture that she was sure Mrs. Weasley would not approve of, but stopped herself and just replaced it with a glare at the red head. George sat next to him and looked as though he was thinking hard about something. "Hey Anna, what was your job anyway?" he asked.

She turned to him, a befuddled expression etched on her face. "My job?"

"When I met you, what you said about the two sloshed blokes coming after you at the end of your shift."

"Oh," she said with a laugh at the memory. "I was a waitress at a pub really close to Knockturn Alley, The Dragon's Claw. Not the best place to work, but you meet interesting characters… well, you know that."

She chuckled and took a bite of toast. George grinned and let out a laugh as well. The rest of them looked at the two of them, utterly bewildered. Ginny opened her mouth to ask something just around the same time as Mrs. Weasley spoke. "Oh good the cabs are here," announced Mrs. Weasley looking out the window, past the gate of the Burrow.

She quickly ushered out everyone with their luggage and all towards the muggle taxis. It was more than difficult to fit four trunks and one owl into one of the taxis. Bill offered to have Ginny's trunk in the taxi that he, Charlie, and Mrs. Weasley were taking to which the driver agreed fully. Just as everything was settled, a set of Fred and George's fireworks were set off by the rain leaving the owls in a tizzy and the muggles overwhelmed.

After a great deal of struggling, Arianna found herself crammed into the same seat as Fred, George, and Ginny, with Fred on one side of her and Ginny on the other. Fred and George spent the entire time gazing around the muggle car with the tiniest bit of interest. Why they were interested she didn't know. Ginny had told her about the Ford Anglia Mr. Weasley had altered to fly, along with Ron and Harry's joyride in it to Hogwarts in her first year and Fred, George, and Ron's abduction of Harry from the muggles he lived with.

She was more than thankful when they finally reached King's Cross. The crowded car had become insanely unbearable for the four of them and were left to sit in silence, not being about to talk about the year they awaited at Hogwarts in front of the muggle driver. The rain was pouring harder than ever and they were all soaked by the time they got their trunks across the road and into the station. She gazed swiftly around the station for platform nine and three-quarters, but could only see platforms nine and ten and the barrier between the two. Puzzled, she followed the Weasleys. "Where's platform nine and three-quarters?" she asked Ginny with curiosity.

"Between nine and ten of course," said Ginny with a laugh.

Still puzzled, Arianna watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione slowly slide sideways through the barrier. "Right, Ginny and Anna, you two are next."

Arianna and Ginny did as Harry, Ron, and Hermione did before them and leaned against the barrier, chatting casually, and slide sideways through it. As they did so, platform nine and three-quarters materialized in front of the two of them. Fred and George appeared from behind Arianna, grinning broadly. One of the two, she wasn't quite sure which one, grabbed her waist causing her to jump and let out a tiny squeal. "C'mon Anna," said Fred motioning for her to follow him, laughing.

Arianna glared at the twins and then looked over towards the gleaming scarlet steam engine, the Hogwarts Express. Steam billowed from it and through which students and parents appeared like dark ghosts. It was a mystifying sight to behold. "Hurry up before all the good compartments are taken," George called back towards the witch.

She followed behind the two of them, pushing her trunk with Adele perched on top of it. The spotted owl gave a few low hoots as they passed other students with owls as well. Arianna walked along the long train and soon enough, the three of them found an empty compartment. Fred and George easily stowed their trunks on the luggage rack. George chuckled softly as he watched Arianna struggle to get her trunk to stay up there. "Here," he said kindly taking the trunk from her and placing it with his and Fred's.

Arianna gave him a warm smile and thanked him. They both decided it would be best to forget about the night after the World Cup, and George's little advancement towards her. At times though, she couldn't help feeling a little tinge of regret for not giving into what George wanted. She normally just shook it off forgetting about it as an attempt to forget about it entirely, which seldom worked.

They stood there for a moment, each of their thoughts trailing off to a different occasion. For Arianna it was when they first met; for George it was cornering her in the hallway and Percy ruining everything. It wasn't until Adele gave a loud hoot that both of them broke out of their little trance. Arianna's face flushed a slight pink. "We better get back to the platform to say good-bye," said George as he scowled towards the owl.

Arianna nodded in agreement and followed him back to the platform and towards Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie. They had come in midway the conversation they were having. "Yeah I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.

_"Why?"_ said George impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it…"

"A bit of _what?"_ asked Arianna.

But at that very moment, the whistle blew, and Mrs. Weasley chivvied hem towards the train doors. "Thanks for having me stay Mrs. Weasley," said Arianna giving the woman a hug before getting on the train.

"Oh it was my pleasure dear. I'd invite you for Christmas, but… well I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with… one thing and another. You've picked a wonderful year to transfer."

"Mum!" said Ron irritably. "What d'you three know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules –"

"What rules?" said Harry, Ron, Fred, and George together.

The pistons began to hiss loudly and the train began to move. "Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out the window as Mrs. Weasley sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"

Arianna watched as Mrs. Weasley only smiled and waved. Before the train had even turned the corner, she, Bill, and Charlie had Disapparated. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all made their way to their own compartment and Ginny ran to meet with some of her friends. Fred and George had looks of disappointment stamped on their faces. "Better get back to the compartment," George suggested. "Lee probably found it by now. He'll be wanting to see our newest creations."

"Lee?" asked Arianna.

"Our best mate," answered Fred. "And don't worry about our newest creations, mum got rid of them remember?"

"Not all of them," he hinted with a sly smile. "She also gave back the ashwinder eggs as well as the doxy eggs. We'll be making the skiving snack boxes and Wonder Witch product 21-13 in no time."

"Skiving snack boxes? 21-13?" repeated Arianna as they sat down in their compartment next to George. "Odd names for products. What are they exactly?"

"Skiving snack boxes are a marvelous little invention of ours. One side of the pill leaves you ill; the other restores you back to exceptional health. We have a few kinks to work out though."

"Well, more than a few," added Fred as he pulled out the tablet.

"Interesting," Arianna said reaching for the pill to look at it more closely. "But what's product 23-19?"

"Love potions that work up to twenty four hours. We need to brew them and test them though," explained Fred lazily. "You can be a test subject for us if you want. We usually just use first years, but technically you are a first year."

"Do I look like a first year?"

Both George and Fred looked her over, each with a wolfish grin on their face. "We've yet to see a first year that looks like you, but you can be the first sixteen year old first year I guess," said George.

Arianna rolled her eyes. She spent the next few minutes listening to the twins discuss their current projects, ideas for products, and whether or not wizards would want to buy a muggle's interpretation for a 'magic tricks'. She had taken her copy of _The Daily Prophet_ with her onto the train and was looking it over, for any new information from the Death Eater attacks at the World Cup. Once again, there was nothing on the subject since Rita Skeeter wrote about it the day after its occurrence. She folded up the newspaper and tossed it to her side. "Fred, George! 'Bout time I found you two. New friend?"

She turned her head to see a tall black boy with dreadlocks taking a seat next to Fred. He gave each of the twins a look of amusement. "Lee Jordan," he said introducing himself and holding out his hand.

"Arianna McKinnon," she responded and shook his hand.

He gave her grin then turned his attention back towards the twins. "Angelina, Alicia, and Katie said they'd stop by later. Whether they will I don't know. Katie's probably with Roger for all we know," he told them as he placed his trunk in the luggage compartment.

"Roger?" repeated Fred in disgust. "Roger Davis? Honestly, you'd think Katie would have the tiniest shred of common sense after what happened last year."

"What happened last year again?" asked George mildly interested. "I forgot from the twenty times Fred ranted about it since May."

Fred's eyes narrowed in annoyance at his brother. "That prat Roger cheated on her with some Hufflepuff girl and the git left her heartbroken."

Lee frowned. "Katie is a bit thick though isn't she?"

"If she's still with Davis she is," agreed Fred.

"It's not her fault if Davis cheated on her though," Arianna piped in.

"It is if she goes out with that git in the first place."

"It's better not to talk about Davis and Katie together around Fred," George informed Arianna in a low whisper. "Just leave it be."

She nodded in agreement and Lee quickly decided to change the subject to new joke products and their newest ideas. She picked up her copy of the _Prophet_ again and flipped through it once more, scanning the paper for anything interesting that she had missed. Lee seemed greatly interested in the skiving snack boxes. "Well have you figured out how to get rid of the boils yet?"

"Not a clue," Fred replied rubbing his left buttock gingerly.

"Boils?" asked Arianna, raising her eyebrow. "I don't see any."

"We could show you if you'd like," Fred offered. "But they're in an area we generally do not display to the public."

Lee and Arianna both burst into hysteric laughter. George frowned at her and looked at Fred who just gave him a little shrug. "We better change into our robes," observed Lee as he peered out of the window. "You gonna change in here Anna, or what?"

Arianna considered it for a second. Changing in a compartment with three hormonal driven teenage boys or in a tiny bathroom that she could probably not even lift her arms in? Either way she'd feel slightly uncomfortable, but the first seemed a lot better than the later. "I'll just stay here," she told the boys with a smirk.

The boys all exchanged a look with one another that, to Arianna, meant trouble and she narrowed her blue eyes at them. "Enjoy it. It might be the only time in a while you'll see a half naked girl in front of you."

She turned around to pull her robes and uniform from her trunk and Fred, George, and Lee did as well. They all changed in silence and she couldn't help but having her eyes drift towards George's body. She tried to keep it far from obvious as she observed his body, from his abs to his biceps. They seemed to flex a tad as he just put on the simple button up shirt. None the less, she felt herself mentally thank God for Quidditch and their players.

Arianna was positive that each boy got their own eyeful of her and she was more than glad that she knew how to change her clothes rather quickly. "Honestly could you boys take any slower," she inquired with amusement.

"We figured we'd put on a decent show for you considering you may not see three half naked guys in front of you for a while," shot back George teasingly.

Fred and Lee both let out a loud chortle of laughter and Arianna couldn't help but let out a giggle as well.

"I'm afraid I missed the punch line to that joke," a voice said in a bored voice from the compartment's doorway.

A rather short blonde haired boy leaned against the door, two large boys standing behind him. He had a sneer on his face as he looked down at Fred and George. "Care to let me in on it Weasels, Jordon, and well, well who are you?"

He turned his attention to Arianna who raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Arianna McKinnon," she said utterly baffled.

"McKinnon? Strange I'm not used to seeing you at Hogwarts. You should really find better company, considering your history that is. Want to make friends with the right crowd. You might even be able to reconsider a few minds though; once they find out about a few things that is."

"Reconsider what?"

"Shove off Malfoy," George spat at him. "Anna, don't listen to him he just makes up stupid shit to get people upset."

"No one was asking for your opinion, you filthy blood traitor," Malfoy snapped glaring at George. "What have you all been doing anyway, discussing how to enter? Figure you'll make some gold from it? Like at the World Cup?"

Fred's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about Malfoy?"

Malfoy sneered towards Fred. "Oh, don't tell me you don't know! Father told me ages ago, he did. You should enter though, just to earn back the gold that Bag-"

In a swift movement, Malfoy was pinned by the collar of his robes against the side of the compartment. Fred was far past irritated now as he glared at Malfoy with unadulterated loathing, his wand pressed against Malfoy's throat. Malfoy let out a few whimpers and his cronies cracked their knuckles. "Get out of here," Fred spat tossing him down on the ground.

Malfoy stood up, with the help of the two thick boys behind him. He brushed off his robes and a triumphant smirk appeared on his face. "Very well then. I'll be seeing you Weasels, Jordon, and you especially McKinnon. I have a feeling you'll want to know a thing or too. Come Crabbe, Goyle!"

With a rather dignified smirk, he turned on his heel and marched his way out of the compartment. His two cronies followed mindlessly behind him. Fred slid the door shut and sat back down, still heated. He and George both exchanged uneasy glances. "Malfoy doesn't ever know what he's talking about. George is right, he just makes up stuff to get people upset," said Lee who was looking over his friends with concern.

"Yeah, you're right," said George.

He sent a grin towards his brother and looked over towards Arianna, who was twisting a piece of the _Prophet_ in her hands. Her eyes sent him a look that told him that they needed to talk later, he nodded. She knew full well that Malfoy was just saying things. How could he know anything about her when they had just met? He knew something though, she just wasn't sure what that was.

Arianna was positive George could see this was bothering her and her suspicions were confirmed when he leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Don't let it bother you. Take mine and Lee's advice as well."

He gave her a kind smile which she happily returned. The four of them spent the next hour or two discussing their theories as to what would happen this year at Hogwarts, or as George referred it to, Mum's best way to torture her sons. They had gone through everything from upgrading the school's broomsticks to Firebolts, to another secret chamber at Hogwarts. Abruptly, Arianna remembered something from after her first night at the Burrow. "A tournament," she stated jubilantly.

The three boys looked at her fully bewildered. "A tournament," repeated Lee. "What do you mean a tournament?"

"Listen, after my first night at the Burrow I overheard Bill and Mr. Weasley talking about a tournament that was being planned. Something about a thousand galleons as the prize. When I asked them what they were talking about they told me that I'll find out in September. Whatever's happening at Hogwarts has to be this."

"Tournament?"

"Thousand galleons?"

All three boys exchanged looks of pure enthusiasm. "You don't think?"

"No it couldn't be?"

"A thousand galleons."

"But what if it-"

"They did change the rules."

"A thousand galleons!"

They all turned with eager faces towards the brunette. "Are you positive?" demanded Fred.

"Of course, I wouldn't tell you guys that if I wasn't. Why do you-"

"Have an idea?" finished George as the train pulled to a stop. "Yeah we do, we'll find out eventually."

oOo

Pretty soon, they were all pilled in the Great Hall for another beginning of the year feast. George sat in between Arianna and Lee while Katie, Angie, and Fred sat opposite them. Fred was telling the two girls the story about rescuing Harry from his aunts and uncles' and the Ton-Tongue Toffee his cousin ate. "-and then dad said it was up to four feet when he finally shrunk it," Fred told them as they erupted into hysteric laughter.

George grinned at his brother who returned it and went on to telling the two girls about how the Quidditch World Cup was. Arianna laughed quietly and George turned to her. "So how do you like Hogwarts?" he asked casually.

"It's nice, but I can't really have a decent opinion on it until tomorrow. It's much better than Beauxbatons though."

George's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

"Beauxbatons is just colder, fancier, and decorated way to nicely for my taste. A 1800s 'sophisticated' stuffy French castle isn't exactly the most pleasant place to stay for six years. Hogwarts is… homier than I would have thought."

George shook her head and chuckled. He leaned in closer towards the witch. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about on the train?" he whispered.

Arianna glanced towards Lee, Fred, Angelina, and Katie. They were all discussing the Quidditch World Cup excitably and wondering out loud whether or not McGonagall would decide on their new Quidditch Captain before the season started, or who she'd decide. "What Malfoy said, on the train, do you think he knew about my father being Sirius Black?" she whispered so that only George could hear her.

"I don't know. His father was and is probably still a Death Eater. He might know quite a few things actually."

The thought of this disgusted George. That git shouldn't know more about Anna's past then she does. His thoughts seemed to transfix her as well. A worried expression was fixated on her round face. "I doubt he does know anything Anna," he reassured her calmly. "Like I said before, he just makes up shit to get people upset. Don't give him any satisfaction."

She smiled and gave a tiny little laugh. "I don't plan to," she told George, her smile turning into a broad grin.

It wasn't for a few more minutes, until all the plates were clear from the food and that the conversations around the Great Hall had reached its minimum, to which Dumbledore stood up once more. He began to droll on over the usual, Filch's forbidden objects, no going into the Forbidden forest, and Hogsmeade is out of bounds to students below their first year. It wasn't until he announced that there wouldn't be any Quidditch this year, was when he caught the attention of George. He, Fred, and the rest of the team began to mouth soundlessly their shock over this discovery.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up most of the teacher's time and energy – but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts –"

Dumbledore wasn't able to finish his explanation and announcement. That that exact moment, there was a deafening roar of thunder and the doors for the Great Hall banged open. A man was standing in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black traveling clock. George, as well as everyone else in the Hall, turned their head, enthralled by the person in the doorway.

The figure began to make his way through the Hall, a dull _clunk_ echoing as he did so. Another flash of lightening crossed the ceiling and George's eyes widened. The man's face looked as though it were carved out of wood. There was not a single inch of skin that was not scarred. His mouth looked more like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of his nose was missing. But to George, it was his eyes that made him appear frightening.

One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid electric blue. The blue eye rotated, without blinking in various directions, rather independently from his normal eye. At one point it even rolled over so that all that could be seen was white. "Mad-Eye Moody," George said in awe.

"Who?" asked Arianna in confusion.

"That's Mad-Eye Moody!" explained George. "The best auror of our time. A little batty now, I've heard."

Everyone's eyes were still transfixed on Moody as Dumbledore introduced him. He then cleared his throat and continued. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" said Fred loudly.

The tension that had filled the Hall, broke and nearly everyone laughed at Fred's comment. Dumbledore even chuckled appreciatively. He then continued one with the details for the Triwizard Tournament, the history of it and that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students would be joining then in October. That little piece of news caused a groan of displeasure from Arianna. George chuckled softly. "What's wrong?"

"Madame Maxime was not exactly delighted to hear that I was going to Hogwarts. Dealing with that woman is never pleasant and I can already hear her going on about how Hogwarts robes disgrace me and that I should transfer back to Beauxbatons if I knew what's best for me," she groaned frowning at George.

The entire hall was ablaze in talks of entering the Tournament. Plans were being discussed, ideas were calculated, and all eyes remained fixated on Dumbledore for him to continue.

"I'm going for it!" Fred announced to them all, his face was lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of the glory for the school and the thousand galleons as a prize.

However, Fred's eager face fell once Dumbledore announced that you must be of age, seventeen, to enter in the Triwizard Tournament. Looks of outrage and fury appeared on the twin's faces as well as Arianna's.

"They can't do that!" said George who was now glaring at Dumbledore. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"

"They're not stopping me entering," said Fred stubbornly, also glaring towards the top table. "The champions will get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand galleons prize money!"

"I'm seventeen in May," said Arianna with a scowl on her face. "There's probably something we could do to figure out how to enter."

"I reckon a few drops of an Aging Potion might do it, George…"

"But Dumbledore will know you're not of age," piped in Ron.

The three of them just shrugged off Ron, ignoring his logic. They made their way to the Gryffindor common room, which unsuspectingly to Anna was concealed behind a large portrait of a fat lady clad in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she said as they approached.

"Balderdash," said George. "a prefect downstairs told me."

The portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall that they all climbed through. Arianna's eyes widened at the sight before her. The crackling fire warmed the circular common room, which was filled of squashy armchairs and tables. "Wow," she muttered quietly.

George chuckled at the witch's amazement with the common room. "Girls dormitories are too the left," he told her with a grin. "Boys are to the right."

"Way to tell her the right location of the dorms George," said Fred from behind his twin. "And here I thought we could have a little fun with this."

"A little fun with what?"

"You being a first sixth year," explained Fred. "You have the seniority over first years for your age, but you are just as naïve as one."

She snorted and gave him a half smile. "Clever. I'll be sure to remember that during class tomorrow."

"That reminds me," said George. "What classes are you taking?"

"Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Art, and Herbology. Just the basics."

"Potions? Why in the name of Merlin's beard would you want to take potions?" asked Fred, shaking his head in disbelief. "At least you'll have George and Lee in that class with you."

"Because I want to be an auror," she told him as she fell onto a couch near the fire. "I thought you had to get an 'O' on your O. to be in potions as a sixth year."

"I did, hard to do, but I did," explained George as he took a seat next to her.

"Reckon it was the only thing he had ever studied for."

"Why are you taking potions then if you don't like it?"

"Because I need to, for the joke shop that is. It all involves a lot of magic and potions is a main one. Fred's always been horrible at potions."

"So what classes are you two taking?"

"The basics just split between the two of us. I'm taking potions, while Fred's taking Herbology."

"Why does Fred hate potions so much?" Arianna asked them curiously.

"We all do. It's damn near impossible to like Snape," answered Fred.

"The slimy looking git at the professor's table," explained George once he noticed the puzzled expression on Arianna's face. "You'll find out eventually."

The common room was slowly starting to empty and students were filling into their dormitories. Pretty soon I was just Arianna, Fred, and George sitting around the fire. Arianna muffled a yawn and gazed tiredly at the twins. "I better get to bed," she told the two of them. "Goodnight."

She gave the twins a warm hug and to George's surprise, a kiss on the cheek. She flashed him a grin before walking up the stairs to her dorm. "Goodnight," he muttered.

From behind him, Fred cleared his throat. George turned to see him grinning their trademark Cheshire cat grin. "You _fancy_ her," he stated.

George rolled his eyes at his brother's accusation. "You're barmy mate."

Fred shook his head. "And you're in denial. I've seen the way you act around her and you sneaking a peak when she was dressing. I'd be barmy to say that you didn't fancy her."

A mischievous smirk formed on George's face. He wasn't about to deny _that_. He did glance over towards Arianna when she was changing. He would have been bloody insane if he didn't. He was sure Fred and Lee got their own eyeful as well. As for fancying Anna, well he was sure about that as well. Was he about to give Fred the satisfaction of realizing that he like her? No. At least, not for a while.

oOo

**Author's Note:** I feel like such a bad author for taking so long to type this. Feel free to use crucio on me. Imperio would work too if you want me to write the chapters faster. Actually, I want to use crucio on fanfiction for being a complete pain in the arse. It won't let me reply to your wonderful reviews. And they're not showing up on the reviews page :( Ugh, it was so annoying. Doesn't mean don't review, by all means do! I love reading your reviews. They make me happy to see that you all are enjoying the story.

Actually, I got insanely addicted to livejournal from the post of the last chapter until now. I'm still really into the site; I might post updates or previews of _You're Making it Come Alive_ on there as well. Whether I will or not, I'm not sure of. It's possible I will, actually really possible. Ugh, I'm indecisive, maybe. Which also means that I'm lazy. Links are on my profile if you want to check that out :)


	6. Better Left Unsaid

_You're Making It Come Alive__  
_By: Red Car Wire

Chapter Five: Better Left Unsaid

oOo

After lunch, almost every sixth year Gryffindor were eager about their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Every single one of the students was ablaze in conversation, discussing what may be in store for their first lesson with the ex-auror, Mad-Eye Moody. Several people swapped stories of what they've heard of him, what he has done, what Death Eaters he caught, and just how he got a chunk taken out of his nose. Arianna was one of the students talking about what the lesson might be about. She, George, Fred, and Lee all claimed the tables in the front row as their own. George informed her that this was possibly the only time they had ever sat in the first row of a classroom.

The chattering died down almost automatically; as soon as Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps could be heard. Slowly, he made his way to the front of the classroom, his eye whirling around to look at each and every one of them. He pulled out the class register and began to call out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list while his magical eye swiveled around, fixing itself upon each student as they answered. "McKinnon, Arianna," he called out slowly, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Present."

"Minkins, Adam?" he continued down the list.

Arianna exchanged a look of confusion with George as Moody continued to take roll. "What was that about," George mouthed silently to which Arianna shrugged.

"Right then," he said after George had declared himself present. "Professor Lupin sent me a letter about this class. Explained that he covered a good deal of spells and counter spells as well as Dark creatures, is that right?"

There was a slight murmur of agreement.

"And your professors before then, Professors Quirrel and Lockhart, didn't cover too much?"

No one spoke, a few nodded their heads. "Right, well you're behind – very behind – on dealing with some of the most dangerous curses there are! According to the Ministry of Magic, you lot are old enough to deal with illegal dark curses and to see what the look like. Dumbledore wanted you all to learn these long before your sixth year. As I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better."

Moody paced along the front row of the desks, his magical eye swirling around in its socket, watching their every move. Fred and George were both listening intently to Mad-Eye's every word, not taking their eyes off him. "Professor Lupin began to teach you about the unforgivable curses last year, correct?"

A few students nodded and a short Ravenclaw student raised her hand. "Yes Miss?"

"Liddle. Professor Moody, Professor Lupin explained to use the killing curse as well as the Imperius curse. He had just begun on the Cruciatus curse before he was –"

"Right, well he did mention that bit in a letter he left me. Have you all witnessed these curses?"

Everyone was silent once more and most shook their heads no. Others just keep silent, their eyes focused on Mad-Eye. "Have you all experienced the effects of being under the Imperius curse?"

Moody's magical eye shifted its way, looking at all their blank faces. "Ms. McKinnon, would you be so kind as to be the first volunteer for my lesson?"

Arianna blinked in surprise and slowly walked up to the front of the classroom. Moody motioned for her to walk closer towards him and she followed. "I'm going to do a demonstration of the Imperius curse for you all using Ms. McKinnon as the subject – that is if she doesn't protest."

The Imperious curse? That was illegal! How did Mad-Eye ever get permission to do such a thing on his students? Did Dumbledore give him said permission? She stood for several moments just staring, puzzled, at Mad-Eye. "Judging from your expression, you don't want to participate? Alright well I'll just – "

"No, I'll participate," she interrupted.

She would have to be bloody mental to miss out on an important lesson like this. Besides, she'd rather have a chance to experience the effects of being under the influence of the Imperius curse with someone who was an ex Auror and whom Dumbledore trusted fully. "Very well then McKinnon, Imperio," said Moody pointing his wand towards Arianna.

The most wonderful feeling had settled over her. Any worries that had filled her mind beforehand had left her entirely. She stood in front of the classroom, blissfully unaware of whatever was going around her.

And then, in the most far off place in the back of her brain, she heard Moody's voice. _Jump onto the chair … Jump onto the chair…_

Arianna bent her knees obediently, crouching into a stance that prepared to pounce onto the chair behind Moody's desk.

But why? Another voice had awakened in her mind. Such stupid thing to do, really, said the voice.

_Jump onto the chair…_

No, I don't want to, said the other voice, more firmly then before … no, I really do not want to…

_Jump! NOW!_

A wave of considerable pain swept over Arianna's entire body. She had both jumped and tried to prevent herself from jumping – the result was that she had smashed her head into the chair, causing her to knock it over and fall over it as well. She made an attempt to stand, but her knees were too weak to let her. They buckled and she collapsed on top of the chair once more. "Now _that's_ the way to do it!" growled Moody as he helped the disgruntled witch to her feet.

The realization of what was currently going on seemed to double the pain she felt in her kneecaps as well as her head. "Look at that you lot … McKinnon fought it and she damn near beat it! We'll try that again, and the rest of you, pay attention – watch her eyes, that's where you can see it – very good, McKinnon, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling _you_!"

By the end of the lesson, Arianna went through several rounds of the imperious curse. He wasn't satisfied that it took her seven or eight tries to almost throw it off either. He tried several other students as well, to see if they would be able to throw it off as well. George watched with mild amusement as she hobbled out of the classroom grumbling to herself. She stumbled once more and George caught her. "Thanks, I'm positive I've lost all feeling in my legs."

"At least you can throw off the curse. Everyone else couldn't do that and Fred and I didn't even get a chance to go!"

"Consider yourself lucky," she murmured.

"Didn't like my teachings, do you McKinnon? You'll be much more grateful if anyone tries to cast Imperio on you and you successfully throw it off," growled Moody as he walked past Arianna, George, and Fred. "And you two," he added pointing to Fred and George, his eye swiveling around at both of them. "You're first next class to test it. You Arthur Weasley's sons?"

"Yeah," answered Fred.

"Well, your dad got me out of a bit of a spot with the Ministry. Be sure to give him my thanks once again. Good man Arthur Weasley."

Moody gave the three of them a nod and continued to make his way to the Great Hall. Arianna's face was tinted a slight pink. She felt a tad embarrassed over the fact Moody had overheard what she told George and Fred. George leaned towards the witch, a broad grin across his face. He opened his mouth to make a comment about what happened and Arianna placed a finger over his mouth. It closed almost obediently and she cocked an eyebrow at him, a smirk forming on her face. "Shut it," she told him calmly.

Arianna felt herself let out a little giggle and turned on her heel down the rest of the hall, Fred and George following behind her. She could hear them talking to each other, discussing something. She slowed her pace, trying to get a better idea of their conversation. "Honestly, if we tell him that it's being too obvious," George said, his tone getting rather frustrated.

"Obvious? Well why the hell wouldn't we need to be obvious? He knows bloody well what he did!" retorted Fred.

"Who are you two talking about," asked Arianna, turning her head to look back at the two of them.

Before either of them could answer, Arianna found herself colliding into someone. She fell back would nearly hit the ground if George hadn't caught her, again. Cedric Diggory turned around and smiled sincerely at her. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks George."

"No problem."

There was a hardness in George's tone that Arianna picked up on after a few moments of all of them awkwardly standing there. Cedric, who was mildly unaware of the situation going on, grinned at Arianna once more. "I found out Moody had you under the Imperius curse for his class. How was that?"

"Painful," she told him with a smirk.

"And you were able to throw it off?"

"Almost, but not quite."

Cedric nodded, impressed none the less. "I hope Moody does something that interesting with my class. We covered unforgivable curses with Lupin last year though. He didn't practice them on us. I find that to be quite odd…"

"Yeah Moody mentioned that to our class," said Arianna as George cleared his throat.

Cedric looked over to see George standing behind Arianna, his eyes narrowed with a scowl on his face. Cedric blinked, understanding almost automatically the message George conveyed. "Erm – I'll talk to you later," he said to Arianna with a smile before joining some of his fellow Hufflepuffs.

"Git," said George as soon as Cedric was out of earshot.

Arianna stared at him with a look of disbelief on her face. "You're unbelievable."

"Why thank you, I was wondering when you'd realize – "

"That's not what I meant."

She folded her arms, eyes narrowing at the grinning ginger haired boy. "Cedric was just being polite – "

"Polite my arse. Ask Fred, even he'll – "

"Yeah, leave me out of this," Fred interrupted, moving past his twin and towards the Great Hall. "Two sickles on that Anna wins this round," he yelled back.

George glared after his brother and turned to see Arianna suppressing a laugh. "Honestly though, you don't know Diggory. He's a pompous little git."

"Oh please. It's not like I was throwing myself at him. I just bumped into him," the corner of her mouth twitched slightly as she recalled bumping into the redhead she was now arguing with just a few months ago.

"Yeah you bump into guys a lot, guys who are known to be attractive," he said. "You know maybe McLaggen was right about you."

Arianna shook her head in annoyance. She knew just what George was playing at. Why on Earth was he comparing himself to pretty boy Diggory though? Sure George was attractive; she wasn't going to deny that. But the fact that he was taking into account something her cousin said to her out of spite was something Arianna could not understand. "And what exactly would that be George?" she snapped maliciously.

He stepped forward and placed his hand on her chin, lifting her head to meet his gaze. He had a scowl etched on his freckled face that only caused Arianna to narrow her eyes at him more and move her head away from his hand. "About how when a guy flirts with you, you get roped in. How you lose all self control," he answered her.

She blinked, her mouth agape in shock and confusion as to why George believed what Cormac said. "Oh please! Cedric was not flirting with me! Why do you even care so much?"

He rolled his eyes at her, the scowl turning into an amused grin as if it were obvious. Arianna however, continued to glare sharply at George, waiting impatiently for his answer. With a swift movement, she turned on her heel and strode into the Great Hall. She caught sight of Ginny sitting near the middle of the Gryffindor table and joined her. Ginny looked Arianna over as she took a bite of potatoes; an amused expression on her face. "My brother being a git again?"

Arianna snorted and looked over at the redhead who was smiling knowingly at her. "You know if you two would just – "

"Oh shut it," she told Ginny, as a soft smile formed on her face as she watched George take a seat next to Fred and handed him two sickles.

"Talking with your mouth full is rude," she added thoughtfully as she began to fill her plate with food, smiling to herself.

oOo

After nearly three days of mind numbing lessons and two lectures from McGonagall about how experimenting on and transfiguring rabbits are two completely different things, George was less then pleased to discover he would be ending his first week back with Snape. N.E.W.T level potions was something he did not want to, but had to take for the joke shop. He and Fred flipped a coin, to help decide who exactly would take one for the team. George was positive that Snape must have gone into shock when he found out that both George and Lee passed their Potions O.W.L with an 'Outstanding'.

Unfortunately, the shock must have worn off by the time that he, Lee, and Arianna were all sitting in the very back of Snape's classroom. Arianna was still angry at George for the little quarrel they had and Lee acted as a barrier between the two of them. George gazed around the classroom. There were around fifteen students in the class. There were five Ravenclaws, four Slytherins, three Hufflepuffs, and the three of them. Even with a small number of students, Snape took his time with the role that class, pausing on certain names to make comments on them being a part of the class. "Well, well Arianna McKinnon," he said with a sneer. "Dumbledore told me you'd be here. Potions must have been really easy at Beauxbatons if you were able to sneak your way into my classroom."

"I assure you Professor that Monsieur Bertrand was more than adequate as a Potions teacher."

"And I assure you, McKinnon, that the French knew nothing about brewing Potions."

"Pardon me Professor, but wasn't Amortentia created by a French hag?"

"Amortentia was created by a hag, yes, but the heritage of said hag is unknown. Now will you please refrain from opening your mouth once more in my class or I'll be forced to deduct points from Gryffindor."

He glared sharply at her with his black eyes before turning his attention back to the role and giving his opinions to the students who he felt didn't belong in their class. George turned his head to see the look of surprise on Arianna's face. She didn't exactly get off on the right foot with Snape. Sitting next to Lee and him and responding back to him were to things that left you on Snape's bad side. He tried his best to refrain from laughing at the situation and the expression on her face.

"Mr. Weasley, just how did you manage to get an Outstanding on your O.W.L?" inquired Snape as he came across George's name. "I can't imagine you studied for something. Perhaps it's some of that dumb luck you Weasleys have."

"You say dumb luck as if it's a bad thing Professor. It's more of an art form really. Not everyone has perfected the method of obtaining something without putting any effort into it."

Lee and Arianna both let out a low laugh, to which Snape ignored. "Well I can assure you Weasley that you will not make it until December in this class. Dumb luck or not. Five points from Gryffindor."

George gave him a smirk. He had no plans of failing by December. Potions was easy to him. Mix a few ingredients, stir it a couple a times, and make sure it's at the right temperature. Really easy. "Alright, now that everyone is accounted for, let's see just how good you all are with potions by making Veritaserum, a powerful truth serum. It takes a full lunar cycle to create, you will make the potion and we will test it once the cycle is over."

Snape's lip curled once he saw some of his student's eyes widen in horror at the idea of having all their secrets be revealed in front of the entire class. What secrets they'd have by the end of the month was beyond George. Besides, it was damn near impossible for any of them to achieve making a perfect Veritaserum.

"Ingredients are found in the cupboard as you know. You all have an hour and a half to finish your potion. Time begins, now."

George was starting to think that Fred might have used a double headed coin, like the muggles use to trick each other. He was struggling more than usual with this particular potion. He was pleased to know that Lee was also having trouble, but to his dismay Anna wasn't. He watched in bewilderment as the witch chopped up the Wiggentree root evenly and quickly.

"How are you doing that," he hissed in amazement.

"I went to a French school for five years George. It isn't that hard to figure out."

George blinked as she chopped the root swiftly once more. Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned his attention back to his root. "McKinnon what is it you are doing?" asked Snape as he made his way around the classroom.

"Adding a few drops of honeywater," Arianna replied simply as she began to stir her cauldron.

"Honeywater is used more in antidotes and is not written in the book," he snapped taking her potions book from her in a swift movement. "I suppose Monseiur Bertrand taught you this?"

"Actually, he did not," she responded rather coolly. "My grandfather brewed potions quite often. He always told me that two drops of Honeywater help make the potion more sufficient."

"If that's so, I suppose you don't mind being the first volunteer to test your potion."

"I'll be glad to."

Snape raised his eyebrows at the witch and gave a very unpleasant smirk before turning his attention to George. "Weasley, you forgot to add the lacewing flies."

"I added them Professor."

"Then why hasn't your potion turned to a hazy blue?"

"I haven't stirred it sir."

"Weasley, you'll be the second person to test their potion," Snape informed him as he strode towards a group of Hufflepuffs.

By the end of potions, George had managed to turn his potion to a misty blue. According to the book, by the end of the lunar cycle it would be clear and resemble water. Arianna's potion was a pearly white that was almost exactly what the book had described it to be. "Your grandfather brewed potions?" he asked her as they left the classroom.

"Well, he experimented. He tried to figure out the best way to brew the perfect potion. He was quite good at Veritaserum and Polyjuice Potion too. He sold the potions to people who came and went."

"People who came and went? What if someone – "

"George, he may have been a little mental but he was a smart man. He only sold potions to those he knew and trusted."

"Still seems kind of shady Anna."

"I don't care honestly. I don't invade his privacy by asking him questions about his job. Maurice has the right to do whatever he pleases."

George folded his arms at the witch and frowned. However, he bit his tongue to refrain from adding anything else to this conversation. Arianna had mood swings too often, they were usually caused by something stupid he said but George wouldn't say that. "I know what you're thinking," Arianna said as she noticed the worried expression on his face. "He did not sell potions to Death Eaters before You-Know-Who's defeat. Death Eaters killed my mother George, why would he supply the filthy scum who murdered her?" she asked in a slight whisper so they weren't overheard by students they passed.

"You didn't know that your mum was murdered until last month. You don't know what he would or had done."

"Common sense George, use it. He wouldn't help someone who helped plan or contributed in the murder of almost his entire family."

George nodded and continued to walk with her towards the Gryffindor common room. "So what changed your mind?" he asked casually as they approached the portrait of the fat lady.

"What do you mean?"

"You're talking to me again, what changed your mind?"

George grinned as she rolled her eyes at him, the corner of her mouth twitched some. "Balderdash," she said to the portrait after which it swung open and the two of them climbed in.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Do you want me to continue talking to you?"

"It is quite enjoyable, so yes."

"Then stop asking stupid little questions."

Arianna gave him a smirk before making her way towards the girls dormitories. "I enjoy my stupid questions and so do you," he yelled after her.

A laugh echoed from the stairway Arianna walked up and George grinned to himself. _"So, when are you going to tell her?"_ a voice in the back of his mind asked.

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"You _fancy_ her and you certainly aren't making any attempts to hide it. Just ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you. The first trip is in October."_

George rolled his eyes, but the voice did have a good idea. Then again, he was taking into consideration a voice in his subconscious. "I must be mental," George muttered, shaking his head.

"I was wondering when you would realize that," said Arianna from behind him.

"When did you – "

"I just went up there to drop my bag off. Now, what were you talking to yourself about?"

George gazed at the brunette with an amused expression on his face. "Nothing that concerns you."

Arianna raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh really? Does Fred know?" she asked as she saw the other redhead walk into the common room. "Oy! Fred!"

Fred looked over to see Arianna and George. He caught sight of George's expression, shook his head, and gave the pair of them a grin. He learned better then to get in the middle of their little squabbles. George laughed as Arianna gave Fred a look of utmost disappointment, curious as to what George was debating to himself about. "Honestly Anna, you're really thick," he teased lightly.

"Thick? How am I thick?"

George chuckled to himself as he made his way towards the portrait to go down to dinner. "You'll figure it out eventually."

oOo

Sunday evening was very pleasant to Arianna. Everyone had turned in early to their dormitories and others just sat quietly doing any work that they had not done beforehand. Fred and George had left to go towards the owlery, telling her they had to mail a letter that was, in their words, 'none of her concern'. Naturally, she was a little curious as to what they were doing, but she refrained from asking them anymore of it.

Arianna gazed around the common room, looking for something to do or someone to talk to. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a bushy haired girl writing quickly on a piece of parchment. Hermione was busy working on an essay of some sort at a small table in the corner of the common room. Debating whether or not to disturb the studious witch, Arianna stood there for a moment. She walked over towards the bushy haired girl and took a seat next to her.

Hermione's quill moved swiftly across the parchment, paying no attention to the girl who had just taken a seat next to her. Arianna spent a few minutes sitting awkwardly next to her friend before she cleared her throat to speak. "Hey Hermione. Where's Ron and Harry?"

"Divination."

"Oh, you dropped that class right?"

"Yes, all that batty woman would do was ramble on about various ways we'd die and the grim…"

Hermione paused for a second as seemed to think of something. She placed her book down and looked towards Arianna. "Can I ask you something?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. What do you want to ask?"

"Is Sirius Black really your father?"

Arianna blinked. Several thoughts ran through her head. How did Hermione find this out? Should she tell her the truth? Should she lie? Why did Hermione wish to know? Was it because of Sirius Black was after Harry, wanting to murder him? Arianna sat in silence staring at the bushy haired witch in amazement. "I overheard Mrs. Weasley telling you, after you stayed at the Burrow the first night. I also heard you telling George after the attack – "

"Why, why do you want to know?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment, debating with herself. "Oh, I promised Ron and Harry I wouldn't say," she whispered hurriedly.

"You brought it up though! Might as well tell me just why you brought it up."

Hermione bit her lip. "Well, I suppose this is a better question to ask when Harry isn't around. What is your opinion of your father?"

"A murderous, evil, son of a – "

"Forget everything you've thought of him," interrupted Hermione sharply.

Arianna blinked, bewildered at what Hermione had just said. "I beg your pardon?"

Hermione let out a low sigh and placed her book on the table before her. "Listen," she whispered calmly. "I met Sirius last year, so did Ron and Harry. He is innocent. It was Peter Pettigrew who killed all of those muggles and worked for You-Know-Who."

Arianna opened her mouth to interrupt, but Hermione held up her hand to prevent her from doing so. "Peter is alive. He had been living as an animagus for the past years since his 'death'."

"I don't believe you," sputtered Arianna, shaking her head at the young witch. "He murdered all of those people and was in Azkaban for it-."

"No he did not and the cells in Azkaban are filled with people who didn't commit the crimes they've been accused for. Many go free."

Arianna blinked, she had not exactly thought of that. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Hermione blinked as well. It seemed that she didn't know how to answer this question. She pondered for a few minutes before giving Arianna her answer. "Because if I hadn't you'd probably never know. Harry and Ron didn't want me to tell you, they figured it would only complicate things more than they should be. I think they're right, but still," she placed a comforting hand on Arianna's. "You have the right to know."

She gave Arianna a warm smile and gathered her things before leaving towards the dormitories. Arianna sat, in mild shock and silence. She stared blankly at the bare tabletop in front of her. She traced the indents left in the wood from scratches from quills and various other abuses to it, her mind off onto the idea of her father being a good man. It just didn't fit to her. Normally, she trusted Hermione, but there was something that just didn't feel right to her. She couldn't exactly pin-point what that was, but Arianna was positive it would pester her for a while.

The common room was unnaturally quiet as Arianna sat in her own dull silence as well, lost in her thoughts. She heard a pair of footsteps behind her and her eyes shifted to catch a glimpse of the person walking by. She didn't see anyone. Annoyed at herself for hearing thing, she let out a small, exasperated sigh.

"Sickle for your thoughts," a voice asked in her ear.

Letting out a gasp and jumping several inches in her chair, Arianna turned to see that Cheshire cat grin plastered on George Weasley's face. "Or maybe not," he added as he recognized that sharp glare she was giving him.

Arianna turned, facing away from her grinning tormentor. "Aww come on Anna," he said taking a seat next to the witch. "What's wrong?"

For a moment Arianna considered telling George what Hermione had told her a few moments ago. She quickly decided against it, realizing George probably didn't know about his brother, Harry, and Hermione helping an ex-convict escape. George definitely had a temper, and if she was to tell him what had just occurred, he'd probably only hear that part. "Anna?" George asked getting slightly concerned now.

"I'm fine," she said calmly, turning to face him with a tired smile. "I'm just a little tired that's all."

The grin re-appeared on his freckled face. "You know, you are a bloody rotten liar."

Arianna let out a little laugh and her smile grew wider. "Why is it, whenever I feel like crap, you're always around to make me feel better?"

"Because if I make you feel worse, I'm not being that great of a friend."

"So if you're such a great friend, why won't you tell me who you and Fred have been writing to," she inquired as she tilted her head to the side, a mischievous grin forming on her face.

His grin fell and a serious, uncharacteristic look appeared on his face. "None of your business Anna. Besides, you wouldn't even tell me what was bothering you."

"I was just teasing you George," Arianna explained, her smile falling as well.

They sat quietly for a few moments; each thinking of whatever it was that was troubling the other. "Anna," George finally said after a few moments of silence. "Where you thinking of your fath-"

Before George had the chance to finish his sentence, Arianna clasped her hand over his mouth. "Are you really that dense?" she hissed.

His eyes narrowed at her, but she did not remove her hand. "George, you cannot say his name out loud like that, what if someone hears you?" she asked leaning in closer towards George.

Her hand slowly fell and her gaze fell downward. "I'm sure no one did Arianna."

She looked up at him; it wasn't often that he used her full name. She gave him an appreciative smile before standing. "I better get to bed," she mumbled, running her fingers through her curls. "Goodnight."

Arianna turned to go to her dormitory. Before she reached the bottom stair, George grabbed her hand, turning her around so that they were both facing each other. Arianna blinked, attempted to avert her gaze from his bright blue eyes. She could feel her skin warming. "What is it?" she managed to ask.

"I forgot something," he replied, inching closer towards her.

George ran his hand through her hair, pushing it away from Arianna's face. She blinked several times, trying to figure out just what was going on, what George had forgotten. He let out a sigh and a small smile. "Goodnight," he told her, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

Filled with a mixture of confusion and disappointment, Arianna stood at the bottom of her dormitory watching George walk off towards his dorm. "Goodnight," she sputtered out.

oOo

**Author's Note:** Lack of inspiration is the reason behind why this chapter took so long to get out. I apologize. I had much more inspiration on a different story, a Charlie and Luna story I've been working on for a while now (since July actually). However, the inspiration for that is lacking greatly right now and that explains as to why this chapter is a little bit longer than the others. That and I've been pretty busy with school.

I am so sorry it took so long to get this out! I wanted to get it out before October though (one day is pretty good). I'm actually really surprised I finished this today! Thank Kings of Leon for calming me and helping me finish it. Do you hate the part I cut off at? Let's just say that was deliberate… The sixth chapter will probably take a little more time to write, but it will be worth it. I have big things planned. I hope you guys like it and let me know you like it by clicking that big grey button bellow and telling me in a review.

Also, I also apologize for Cedric being thrown in there. You see, Cedric is my anti-writer's blocker (if that makes any sense…). I throw him in whenever I can't think of anything else. Why? I don't know, probably because I really don't like Cedric and bashing him is fun. Sorry if you like him though! He's cool in A Very Potter Musical. I find him to be quite funny in that. Yeah, once again sorry for Cedric and sorry this took so long to get out.

Also, I have no clue if Amortentia was created by a French hag or not. I was playing the computer version of Chamber of Secrets all day one day (day well spent I'll add) in August and I got a wizard card saying it was made by a hag. I'm just going to assume that it was made by a French hag.


	7. Veteriserum, Alcohol, and Categories

_You're Making It Come Alive  
_By: Red Car Wire

**Chapter Six**: Veteriserum, Alcohol, and Categories

oOo

"So you're meaning to tell me that you had Arianna McKinnon alone, in the common room, and you kissed her… on the forehead. The forehead, really? Did you ever consider that aiming for her lips instead?" Fred demanded in a whisper.

"Considered that multiple times, Fred," George groaned as he fell onto his back on his four poster bed.

He heard the small goodbye that she managed to get out, but it took everything possible to keep him from going back to her and snogging her senseless. For fuck's sake, they had just met over the summer and hardly even knew each other. So why was he so attracted to her? He ran his fingers through his hair and turned his head towards his brother, who was sitting at the edge of his bed shaking his head at his twin. "You're pathetic and Anna is equally as pathetic. Just stop your little 'are they or aren't they' game and get together already."

"It isn't that simple, Fred, you know that."

"Oh really, what about how I asked Katie out last year?"

"Yeah and you see how well that turned out?"

Fred's eyes narrowed at his brother. "Anna is different than Katie and the attraction isn't as one-sided, obviously."

George let out a laugh. "So I guess that means I'm the more attractive twin?"

"Piss off," Fred muttered as he climbed into his four poster bed. "Say, George, didn't Lee say that you guys were making Veteriserum in potions?"

"Yeah," George answered slowly. "Why?"

His brother sat up and flashed their signature grin at George. "What do you think about having a little private time between us, Lee, and the ladies? We ask them to come up here a Saturday after it's finished, you steal a small vial of the best potion and I get some drinks, the fancy stuff that girls usually go for, and we have a little 'getting to know you' time."

George shook his head. "Honestly you're sounding just about as creative as an obsessive teenage girl at this point."

"You'll like this part though, we tell them we're playing a game of truth or dare and I pick Anna to go first and just ask her a simple dare."

"How do you know she'll pick dare?"

"C'mon George, she likes a challenge and she's not going to just pick truth and reveal something. She'd figure someone would ask her who she was interested in. She'd just pick the lesser of the two poisons."

"And why do you think she'd pick dare over truth."

"She has pride, she's not going to admit something through a little game that's fuelled by truth serum and alcohol."

George had to admit he had a point. George knew plenty of girls who weren't one to hurt their pride and aside from any of the girls directly related to him, Anna was most likely the most prideful girl he had ever met. Adding those two poisons to the mix would only make her want to suppress revealing anything that might have to do with her family, why she wanted to go to Hogwarts to finish her education, or even who she had her eyes set on. "So how am I going to like this?" he asked slowly growing fond of his brother's plan.

Fred's wolfish grin grew more prominent. "I give her a dare that involves something removing clothes, she tries to alter the rules of the game so that if you pick truth you have to do that dare regardless."

"And how do you know this will happen?"

"Intuition, my brother. Now, are you going to follow through with this brilliant plan of mine?"

"It's not really brilliant since you're mixing alcohol with the world's most powerful truth serum, but as long as Lee and the girls are up for it, I am too."

"Oh, we're not telling the girls."

"Then what are we telling them?"

"That we gentlemen have an evening of merriment in store for the four of them."

George rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress the grin on his face. It sounded like an interesting set-up Fred was trying to get them in and there was most likely something that Fred wanted to happen to him specifically. Though most of his so called brilliant plans seemed to blow up in his face (usually the literal sense of the occurred more than the figurative), but with the promise of something happening involving Anna, it seemed almost too good to pass up. At the same time, he didn't want to end up hurting Anna in Fred's little plan. He didn't know the full details of it or what might happen, but something in his gut was just saying to go with it. "Fuck it, let's do it then."

oOo

It was near the end of the month and the lunar cycle had just finished its round. Snape was planning on testing their Veteriserum on that Friday. As Arianna had suspected, her potion was the only one that worked nearly perfectly and caused her to answer several simple questions like her mother's name, her favorite color, and if she managed to complete the essay he had assigned a few days ago yet. Fred nicked a few bottles of wine and fire whiskey as well as some glasses from the kitchens and invited all of the sixth year girls, as well as Katie Bell, to their dorm for what he advertised as 'an evening of unadulterated merriment'.

Arianna, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie all sat in the boy's dormitory, resting their backs against pillows laid out against their trunks. Fred managed to slip his way between Katie and Angelina, with Lee sitting on the other side of her and Alicia sitting next to him. Arianna sat against George's trunk that sat facing the rest of the group; George sat to her right. The girls all chose the drink of their choice and sat, waiting with anticipation for the idea the boys had all come up with. Fred and George both stood up and presented the group with two vials of clear liquid, half drained. Alicia was the first one to fully register what they've done. "You didn't," she sputtered out in shock, staring at the twins.

Arianna watched as the twin's grins grew broader as the girls began to realize just what they had done. "So, this was your idea of a good time," Arianna scolded, glaring at the boys. "To make us take the most powerful truth serum known to man and get us drunk as well?"

"Now, now Anna I'm afraid you're looking into this too much," George said sitting down next to her and taking her glass of wine, draining it of its contents. "We just wanted to have a simple evening between friends and just get to know little secrets about one another. Plus, the potion isn't as strong when mixed with alcohol."

"Yeah, like who was your best snog Katie?" Fred asked casually, taking a seat next to her.

"Oliver Wood," she answered unblushingly taking another drink of her wine. "It was after we won the cup last year. We were talking and suddenly I just ended up against his locker, the benches, in the shower…" her voice trailed off and a smirk tugged at the edges of her lips.

Alicia let out a giggle and winked at her friend. George saw from the corner of his eye that it didn't please Fred too much that the girl he fancied had snogged and possibly shagged their Quidditch captain and someone they considered to be a very close friend. "So is that all we're doing, just asking each other questions to get the full honest answer? Don't you think we could have done this without the potion?" Angelina questioned Lee.

"You see Ang, the potion was just an added extra to the mix. Figured it add a bit more fun."

"Along with drinks, of course," added Arianna who was filling up another glass to replace the one George took. "Real classy too. I figured you'd get us butterbeer or gilly water if there was going to be drinks involved. Oh, you didn't spike the bottles did you?"

"Just the glasses and figured we'd pick something that you ladies would enjoy. Considering, we are entertaining the four of you this evening."

"Right," Arianna said, drawing out the word as she inspected the fire whiskey she had poured. "So, Lee, you ask me something."

She tilted her head to the side and offered him a challenging smirk. "Well you see," Fred chimed in. "We were planning to have this as more of a, what is it that muggles call it? Truth or dare? Yeah, I think that's it. Right, we were going to have this as a truth or dare kind of affair. So, Arianna, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she responded, but not before taking a quick swig of her drink.

"Alright then," Fred's signature Cheshire cat grin formed on his face as he leaned back on his hands, weighing the options for the brunette across from him. "Take any article of clothing you want off."

"That's it? Honestly I was expecting you to ask me to walk around in nothing but my knickers through the Great Hall," she laughed as she pulled off her jumper revealing her black lace bra underneath it.

"One article of clothing at a time, love." He said with a wink.

"Well how about I make it more interesting then," Arianna challenged.

"Oh Christ Arianna, don't go egging them on with their games," Angelina muttered, shaking her head in disproval.

George turned to face her, the same grin plastered on his face. "Go on."

"For dares you can't make someone take off a piece of clothing, if they choose truth they have to do it. Just to keep people from picking truth every time."

She watched as the twins exchanged the same look, as if they both knew something that the rest of them didn't. Angelina was mouthing the words 'she's crazy' to Alicia who just nodded and nursed her glass of wine. "That's brilliant actually, couldn't have thought of it better," Fred said with a hearty laugh.

Arianna raised her glass and gave him a nod of thanks before downing the rest of its contents. "So, Alicia," she begin with a devilish grin. "Truth or dare?"

By one in the morning, the group had each lost nearly half of their clothes (Anna was still in her jeans and bra) and everyone but Angelina, George, Lee, and Alicia were completely pissed. They all remained in the game, but refused to be the ones to ask the question so that left Katie and Arianna left. "So Anna," Katie slurred with plenty of giggles mixed in as well. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

Katie began to giggle repeatedly and pointed at Anna to almost demonstrate what she wanted her to do. "Kiss George," she said after gaining some form of composure and moving her finger from George to Anna at least three times.

George stood up quickly and took the glass of fire whiskey out of Katie's hand. "Alright I think the game is over now."

"Aww, but George I haven't done anything yet," Anna said as she began to stumble while getting up and throwing her arms around his neck.

Her vision was pretty much impaired at this point, but she was a confident kisser, even when she was too pissed to see straight. It was only George though and there was a very high chance that neither of them will remember what happened tonight anyway. "Alicia would you mind taking her to-"

"Shhh," Anna hissed placing a finger over his lips to stop him from speaking.

She let out a giggle and pressed her lips against his. Despite her current state, there was something sobering in the kiss that caused her to deepen it, make it last longer than a drunk dare should, and entangle her fingers in his ginger hair. His lips were quick, hungry, and tasted like a mixture of the fire whiskey they had been drinking and something sweet, like cinnamon. Even in her intoxicated state, she knew George wanted this as much as she did. As she slowly pulled apart from him, she felt as though the wind was completely knocked out of her. She was left utterly breathless from both the kiss and the amount of alcohol in her system, but to her it was definitely the kiss. "You have no clue how long I've wanted to do that," she whispered.

George's face grew slightly red and he rested his forehead on hers. "Is that you or the alcohol talking?"

"Both." She nodded multiple times, but gave him a confused smile with each one. As George opened his mouth to respond to her, she quickly covered hers and began to make a gagging noise before vomiting over his bare chest and falling foreword in exhaustion. "Didn't know you were – you were that bad of a kisser, Georgie," Katie sputtered out through her laughter.

George looked over at the girls, Fred, and Lee. "Alicia, you and Ang make sure Katie gets to bed safe. I'll let Anna stay here for the night. Lee, you find some of that sobering potion you made," he said as he made his way to the bathroom to clean her up.

"I'm fine George, just tired is all," Anna muttered in protest as he stripped the jeans off of her and turned the water on so to clean her.

"Shut up, Anna," he said as he peered out of the bathroom for Lee. "You have that potion yet, mate?"

George got a cloth wet and added soap to it as he quickly cleaned his chest. Fred walked over to him, a small vial in hand. "Lee gave me some, the rest is for Anna. We're sleeping in the common room tonight," he said and with the last sentence added a wink for good measure.

"Give us an hour, she'll most likely want to go sleep in her own bed tonight," he whispered to his brother.

Fred gave a shrug and grinned at his brother before walking out of their dormitory. Quickly, he brought the vial to her lips and had her drink the potion. Almost instantly she felt her mind becoming less fuzzy and her vision clearer. The taste of sick was still burning in her mouth, but she still looked at George and gave him a small smile. "I'm a terrible drunk," she admitted weakly.

"I've noticed. Look, I'll… I'll go get you something to wear. You just clean yourself up. The potion will probably hinder most of your memory. I'll just fill in any holes afterwards, okay?"

She nodded and stripped down fully as soon as he left the room. She had a very vague idea of the night, but judging from where she was and that she and George were the only ones left in the room and he seemed less than pleased with her. She cleaned herself and her knickers before using a drying charm on them. She pulled them back on and opened the door to see George rummaging through his trunk. "My jumper and jeans are still good George, I'll just put them on and head back to my dormitory."

"Here," he said handing her an old wool jumper of his that was a dark blue with a 'G' on the center of it in gold. "Mum makes me one every year, you should sleep in something cleaner and stay for a bit."

She took the jumper and pulled it over her head and her arms through the sleeves. It was a good size and a half larger than her and fell mid-thigh. "It's kind of big; especially considering it was made for you," she observed as she pulled down on it and pulled it back up again.

"Yeah, mum doesn't really take account what size we wear when she makes them, unless you're someone not in the family."

They stood in silence with the smell of sick and alcohol filling the air. She felt bad that because of her recklessness, the boys were staying on the couch instead of their own beds. She took out her wand and began to use a few simple cleaning spells around the room that left it odorless. The silence became more prominent and the lack of noise was leaving a small ringing in her ears. Arianna watched as George picked up the bottles and tossed them in a bin in the bathroom. "I'm sorry for ruining the night," she said quietly.

"You didn't," he muttered shaking his head. "It was already dying down before Katie made that dare and you, well you know."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, but do you remember what happened in the past hour?"

"Vaguely… this is bad even for me. I remember the taste of fire whiskey and cinnamon and you, but not everything."

George let out a laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. "Do you want to know what happened, Anna?"

She nodded sitting down on one of the beds. His face was beginning to turn a shade of red that she had usually seen only on Ron. "Well, you kissed me and considering you were pissed enough to the point where you had to drink half of that bottle of sober up potion, you were, and well you were pretty good."

Anna sat, staring up at him in bewilderment. "I've wanted to do that for so long and I can't even remember it," she said breaking out into a laugh, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

"Yeah, you mentioned that," George said, his voice giving off a much warmer tone then before. "You're a lot more timid when you're sober which is saying a lot."

She moved her hands to look up at him. He looked amused for the most part and partially confused as well. She wanted nothing more than to remember that kiss and if it was pretty good for her too or just as forgettable as a snog with any other guy. George wasn't just some other guy though. She genuinely cared about him and liked him and that had only ever occurred once with another guy and it turned to shit. She opened her mouth slowly, carefully planning her words. "George, what do you think of me?" she asked quietly, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

He looked caught off guard and looked her over once or twice as she stared up. "You're one of those people that you don't expect to come into your life and make such a small, but powerful impact," he started slowly, not looking at her the entire time. "I honestly consider you to be a best friend of mine, aside from Fred and Lee of course, but still a best friend none the less."

"Oh…" she muttered as her head fell in slight embarrassment.

"You didn't let me finish," he added sitting next to her and tilting her head so that she was looking directly at him. "The thing is, I don't think about Fred and Lee the way that I think about you. And honestly, I'm falling for you, hard. Really fucking hard and it's both exciting and… completely terrifying at the same time."

George took her chin in his hand and leaned forward, and pressed his lips gently against hers. The kiss was warm and the taste she remembered, the mixture of cinnamon and fire whiskey, returned quickly as Anna slowly began to remember the first kiss they had shared. That little spark she was able to feel that sobered her up, even for a few minutes, blossomed now that she actually was sober to the point where it was almost intoxicating. She moved so that she was on top of him, her legs on either side of his, and placed her arms around his neck, his at her waist. The kiss soon became rough, the two of them moving swiftly against the other. George ran his tongue gently against her bottom lip, parting them and gaining entry. A chill ran down her spine as he entangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer to him. She had to admit, snogging George was unlike snogging a lot of the guys she was with. He was playful, yet passionate and it wasn't one where it was only her in control. It was a perfect match, one where they were both dominant kissers that resulted in a few small giggles and moans to escape from their lips from time to time. As George moved his lips from hers and slowly traced her jaw line with time, to the nape of her neck, a quiet moan escaped from her lips as he playfully kissed and bit her skin. "George," she moaned leaning her head back. "I _really_ hate to say this, but maybe we should stop. Before things get too…"

She could feel him smiling against her neck before he pulled back to look at her. They were both left breathless, a small sheen of sweat on the two of them. George let out a laugh and pressed his forehead against hers, smiling from ear to ear. "Same question," he said.

"What?" she asked breathlessly.

"What do you think of me?"

"I feel the same, mainly for the last part, but still the same," she breathed heavily. "So, what does this mean about us?"

"We're either two friends who love to play guessing games with the other or we can actually establish ourselves as a couple and see where it goes."

She giggled and bit her lip, averting her gaze from his. "That is, if you actually want that."

"I do!" she said quickly, focusing her eyes on his again. "I like you, George, and I would love to be your girlfriend."

The absurdity of the word caused another giggle to escape from her lips as she kissed him again. "Remind me to thank Fred tomorrow morning," he told her as he pulled away from Arianna and fell back on the bed.

"And what for?" she asked curling her legs up to her chest so that her head rested on her knees.

"All of that mess that occurred, well what happened before hand, was his idea. He may not look like it, but he has a pretty good grasp on people's personalities and suspecting what they want to do."

"He came up with the whole truth serum, alcohol, and truth or dare?"

"And he said that you'd be the one to have that dare he used on you be at the end of truth so people won't be as inclined to pick truth."

"How did he figure that out?"

George turned his head towards the brunette, eyed her legs that were severely uncovered by the jumper he gave her, and gave a wolfish grin. "Well, he said that if you picked truth someone might ask you if you're interested in me and that you're too prideful to admit something like that through a liquor induced state."

She smiled softly and traced the pattern on the quilt that lay on the bed. "It's silly how much we behave like prideful little third years, too scared of their own good to admit their feelings."

"Better than Ron and Hermione, I guess."

She laughed again and ran her fingers through her damp hair, separating the curls forming at the ends. "I better get to bed," she started and in a quick response George shifted so there was room for her to lie beside him. "My bed," she specified with a small laugh.

Arianna put her hand on the back of George's neck and kissed him goodnight. "I'll send the boys back up, I'm sure they're awake," she said as she pulled away and went to gather her clothes.

"Night, Anna."

She flashed him a warm smile and said goodnight before running down the steps into the common room to find Fred and Lee each snogging Alicia and Angelina. Not wanting to disturb them, she quickly made her way to the staircase for the girl's dormitories. She felt silly for grinning so hard at what had just happened with George and while she wanted to be sure to scold Fred tomorrow for causing such reckless and stupid behavior, she wanted to thank him as well. Her dormitory was empty that night as she climbed into her bed, not bothering to remove the jumper George had given her. It wasn't until later on in the night when Alicia and Angelina stumbled into the room, each whispering to each other about the night. She was too tired to listen to what the girls were chatting about, but as she neared the stage of deep sleep she only heard the mention of George and herself.

oOo

It was the day that Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were to come to the school and the tournament would officially start. Classes, particularly Defense Against the Dark Arts seemed to drag on for ages as Moody went over curses and counter curses. George had received around fifteen points for his quick wand work from him dueling with Fred. "Alright class, now I'm required by Professor Dumbledore to tell you all that this competition that is starting tonight is a way to make friends and that even if you're not selected as a champion, it is a great learning experience. However, as being an ex-auror I feel obligated to give you all another piece of advice, be careful who you get friendly with. Durmstrang's head is a former Death Eater and there is no doubt in my mind that a few of his students might have picked up some of his views and I advise you to stay away from the lot of them. The Beauxbatons ladies and gentlemen, well we currently have a former student of theirs in the room so you can just ask McKinnon what's what about them. I'm also required to tell you to go to your dormitories before heading to the Great Hall and getting ready to welcome our competitors. Class dismissed."

As they made their way back to the common room, George gave a quick goodbye to Anna before rushing off with Fred and Lee. Alicia turned towards the Anna and gave her a large smile. "So, I take that things with George are good," she giggled as she nudged her friend with her elbow.

"What was that?" she asked as she continued to watch the boys walk off. "Oh, sorry, yeah things are pretty good. It's only the first two weeks, though. That's when things are usually easier."

"So you've been in a relationship before? Anyone at Beauxbatons?" asked Alicia.

"Well… only two, but only one lasted relatively long."

"Uh, details please!"

Anna laughed and shook her head no. "Alicia, I don't know you well enough to give you details about my former private life."

"Well, is either of them going to be arriving tonight?" Angelina asked as she joined the conversation.

"Ian is, but John isn't. John left the school around three years ago."

"Which one was Ian?" Alicia pressed.

"The long-term one," she answered as she pushed past the girls and pushed her way to the front of the Fat Lady's portrait.

She quickly gave the password and hurried into the common room, her mind clouded with memories of her times with Ian. She had been successful at pushing him from her memory, but her revealing the names of her past two boyfriends to Angelina and Alicia just caused hundreds of times they spent together flowing back. She made her way to her dormitory and changed into clothes more suitable for the evening's events, the memories began to stream together clearly and flowed through her mind in a way that nearly caused to feel completely sick. Everything from her first time on the Quidditch pitch at midnight to when he visited her when she was at home. Arianna did consider him to be her first love, but they lacked a certain passion to them that caused her to want to stay with him. He was a terrible boyfriend and an abusive one at that, but for some reason she stayed with him until the last term for her at Beauxbatons where he cheated on her with several different girls and she didn't do anything to stop him. It was a terribly unhealthy relationship, but for some reason she couldn't stop herself from being with him.

Doing her best to collect her thoughts, she stood, pinned her curls away from her face, and pulled on the black robes Dumbledore wanted the school to wear in order to be appropriate for the guests coming to the school. She would much rather stay in her dorm for the night, or in the common room, but McGonagall had told everyone a week before then that anyone who was absent from the guest's arrival would be deducted of ten house points and given a detention. She passed the two girls she left behind at the portrait as she made her way back to the common room. "Anna, wait!" Alicia called out to the girl.

She stopped and turned to look at the dark haired girl. "We're really sorry." Angelina nudged Alicia. "Well, _I'm_ really sorry. I shouldn't have asked you about something that's so personal."

"It's fine, Alicia. Don't worry about it," she said kindly as she dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand before continuing to the common room.

George leaned on one of the arm chairs waiting for Arianna to come downstairs. He caught a look on her face and he looked at her carefully. "Are you alright, Anna?"

She bit her lip and played with her fingers. She knew her face was showing her nerves for their arrival for the two schools and if Ian was actually showing up with them or staying behind at school. "Just nervous I guess," she admitted weakly. "Can we just stay here? I could live with ten points off and a detention for the night. I just, really do not want to be here to welcome certain people."

"Yeah, that's fine with me," he said, pulling her into a hug. "Come up to my dorm once everyone leaves."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek before telling her he's going down to the kitchen to get something to eat since they were both missing the feast tonight. She went up to her dorm and pulled the black robes off and unpinned her hair before heading off to his for the night. The room was empty when she walked in. She pulled her school jumper off and threw it onto the floor as she began to look around the room. It was relatively clear, with the exception of a few muggle posters of women clad in the tiniest of bikinis and posters of several Quidditch teams around the room as well. She glanced at the trunks at the end of each bed before setting her eyes on one with the initials 'G.W' etched on the outside of it. Peering over her shoulder at the door, she opened it and took a look inside of it to see piles of clothes and a few odd inventions here and there. She closed it and went to the window to see the Beauxbatons carriage on the horizon.

"Alright, Anna, are you hungry?"

George was holding two bags, one filled with four bottles of butterbeer and the other filled with two small boxes with the smell of burgers coming from them. He went over to his bed and dropped the bags on it and took her hands. "Okay, let's get you away from that window. You didn't want to attend so you're not going to watch from the window."

He sat her down on the bed handed her a butterbeer and grabbed one for himself. She twisted the cap off and took a swig, letting the warm liquid flow down her throat. She leaned back against the headboard and gave him a warm smile. "Thank you."

"It's no problem," he said as he took off his tie and jumper and tossed them on his trunk. "So what made you want to not go to the ceremony tonight?" he asked as he took the cap off of his butterbeer and pulled out one of the burgers for Anna. "And we still have some of that Veteriserum if you don't tell me the truth."

"Ian Fouché." She spoke softly between bites of her burger. "He's my ex and one of the main reasons I'm going here now."

Arianna looked up to see how George had stiffened. "Look, I can either go into details or we can stop this conversation here and just eat our burgers and talk about things other than Ian and Beauxbatons. But you're my best friend and now my boyfriend so it's a little bit required for you to know it."

"Are you sure you want to talk about it?"

"If you get me something stronger than butterbeer I am."

He shook his head and placed his hand over hers in an attempt to calm her nerves. "Alright," she sighed. "It started the day after my fifteenth birthday, Ian is a year older than me, and I was walking to my transfiguration class when he stopped me along the way and asked me to meet him on the Quidditch pitch at midnight. It was the first time he had ever spoken to me so I told him I'd come. That night we ended up having sex, my first time, and right there on the Quidditch pitch. He said that he heard it was my birthday the day before and wanted to do something special for me. He didn't speak to me until the beginning of last year and we ended up starting a relationship that was primarily focused on sex, him cheating on me, and the occasional abuse I received from him."

"What kind of abuse?" he asked, his was voice tense.

She grew quiet and took another swig of the butterbeer, wishing it was stronger than the fire whiskey she had two weeks ago. "He beat me a few times," she admitted in a weak voice. "He did it whenever I confronted him about cheating on me, or when I said that I wanted us to stop seeing each other. I thought it was love and in my delusional mind of mine, I thought it was a mutual feeling. Maurice, my granddad, found out when Ian came to visit."

"And he decided that he wanted you to go to Hogwarts instead?"

"Well, we looked at other options, but he mentioned that mum went here so I decided to go here instead and I went to go to my second Aunt's place to live, got a job in Diagon Alley, and you know the rest," she finished with a smile at memory of that little encounter they had over the summer.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I pushed Ian from my memory; Alicia only rekindled it when she asked me if I dated anyone before you."

George was finished with his burger and his first butterbeer when Anna had finally finished. He had removed his had from hers and they sat quietly for a while; the only noise came from the grounds bellow and from Anna eating her dinner. She thought about how fast she rushes into relationships, how she's full on all the time. It's either all or nothing when it came to her and she began to wonder if she rushed into being in a relationship with George, and that she jumped too quickly when he offered her to be his girlfriend. George was different from Ian though, he left her feeling safe, cared for, and grounded. Odd, considering his vivacious personality and charm. Sure, she loved Ian, but maybe she could fall in love for real this time and not have her heart broken in the end. By the time Anna had finished eating, she bit her lip and looked at George, dying to know what he was thinking. "Sickle for your thoughts?"

"Did he… ever rape you?" he asked, his hands clenched so tight his knuckles were starting to get white.

She bit her lip, hesitating before she finally answered. "Yes, and that was the time he visited when I was at home." Her voice was small. "Maurice heard me and he cursed Ian and told him that the two of us were through and… well…" she gestured with her hand and grew silent once more.

George's fists remained clenched and Arianna gently placed her hand on top of his, making small circles with her thumb in an attempt to calm him. "He's not going to be around forever and I half expect to see him around here, but nothing is ever going to happen between the two of us again."

"You can't really be sure when he's the first person you ever loved, Arianna."

She hated the way he said her full name. It was always whenever he was serious and it lacked the same affection that he had towards her whenever he called her Anna. She hated it even more. His tone in particular made her cringe, but she kept her hand in place. She could feel herself trembling and her eyes starting to fill with tears. "Don't you ever say that to me again, George Weasley," she hissed. "I'm a firm believer in a variety of love and what was with Ian was just a sexual love. We never had conversations and I doubt he ever knew my middle name. I'll never be able to love him again, but there is going to be memories of him that stay with me, no matter how hard I push them away."

"I thought you said he wasn't going to be around forever."

"I meant in the literal sense. I honestly have no feelings left for him."

She removed her hand from his fist and wiped her eyes. She carefully watched George. He seemed to be processing everything she had just said slowly. He turned his head so that his dark blue eyes met hers. "So, what variety of love would you categorize us as?" he asked as his took her hand, deciding not to discuss Ian anymore.

"First," she said without a moment's hesitation. "I've been in several other relationships before you and… you know, but nothing has ever had this feeling to it. It's brand new; something that I haven't really experienced where the feeling is strong and it is both passionate and caring. It's honest, not hiding any secrets. But really, it's both intoxicating and sobering at the same time. Leaving me breathless on a number of occasions, and so flustered and frantic on others. It's reckless, but grounded at the same time to try and prevent either of us from getting hurt."

"Sounds perfect."

"No, not perfect. There are flaws and baggage with both of us, but we're dealing and so far it's perfect, but with first love there is always something troubling to come."

"Aren't you optimistic," he teased as he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

She giggled and pulled away gently. "I'm just a realistic idealist," she admitted.

George tossed the trash lying out on his bed in the bin in the bathroom and lied down next to Arianna on his bed. She curled up against his chest and closed her eyes as he played with the curls in her hair. She listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart and a faint smile traced the edges of her lips. "So, what is your middle name?"

"Olivia."

oOo

**Author's Note**: So there we go, some more insight into Arianna's past as well as George and her finally getting together. Chapter seven is already in the works and should be out a few weeks after this one! :) I'm really sorry it took me ages to type up this chapter, but hopefully I'll have more time during school to write these chapters. I have a lot planned, but never really have the time to type anything out. Thankfully this spring break I didn't have wi-fi (god awful thing to experience, jfc) so I was able to finish this chapter and start the next. Hope you enjoyed!


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